TREASURY

Consumer Prices Index

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress he has made in working with the Bank of England to investigate how housing costs may be included in the consumer prices index as set out in the coalition agreement.

Justine Greening: Both HM Treasury and the Bank of England are members of the Consumer Prices Advisory Committee (CPAC) that advises the United Kingdom Statistical Authority (UKSA) on improvements to the consumer prices index (CPI) recommended by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
	CPAC has been considering the inclusion of housing costs in CPI. On 6 December 2010 UKSA endorsed the recommendations of CPAC in their 2nd annual report that the ONS should further develop owner occupiers' housing costs indices, using the net acquisitions and rental equivalence approaches, for potential inclusion in an expanded CPI within two years.
	The papers from each CPAC meeting and the annual report are published by the ONS on their website.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Nick Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects of the fuel price stabiliser proposed in the 2011 Budget on (a) motorists, (b) the logistics industry and (c) oil companies operating in the North sea.

Justine Greening: The tax Information and Impact Note, published alongside Budget 2011 set out the expected impact on affected groups.
	It is estimated that a typical Ford Focus driver will be £56 better off in 2011-12 as a result of the fuel duty measures announced in Budget 11. The yearly fuel bill for an average haulier will decrease by over £100 in 2011-12, compared with an increase of almost £1,650 under the previous Government's planned fuel duty escalator.
	As set out in Budget documentation, the Government do not expect a significant impact on UK oil and gas investment or production in the forecast period as a consequence of this measure.

Members: Correspondence

John Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of 14 February 2011 regarding a constituent, Mr N. Clark.

Mark Hoban: I have replied to the hon. Member.

Members: Correspondence

John Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of 14 February 2011 regarding a constituent Ms M. Burchell.

David Gauke: I have replied to the hon. Member.

National Insurance Contributions

William Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will estimate the number of new jobs created to which the national insurance holiday has applied since its inception;
	(2)  what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of the national insurance holiday in each year between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

David Gauke: The information requested is as follows:
	i. According to the latest data just under 3,000 businesses have benefited from the national insurance contributions (NICs) holiday (up to 28 March 2011). Analysis suggests that on average each business will claim for approximately two employees. This implies that the scheme has supported around 6,000 new jobs.
	ii. For 2010-11, current outturn data on registrations and an estimated average benefit of £2,000 per business implies costs of around £5 million to date.
	Figures are estimates using assumptions from the Budget 2010 policy costing and are not final. More detail on the assumptions and methodology behind these estimates can be found in the Budget 2010 policy costings note:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/junebudget_costings.pdf
	(page 21).
	Updated estimates of the total cost of the NICs holiday policy will be published in due course, once end-of-year data are available and emerging evidence from external research on take-up has been fully analysed.

Northern Rock

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate has been made of the cost to the public purse of taking Northern Rock into public ownership.

Mark Hoban: The business of Northern Rock was split between two separate entities, Northern Rock plc and Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc, effective from 1 January 2010. Both companies remain in public ownership at the current time.
	As part of the restructuring, the previous Government provided £1.4 billion of capital support to Northern Rock plc; £1.6 billion is available for Northern Rock (Asset Management) should the company need further capital support in the future. In addition, the Government had by January 2010 loaned Northern Rock (Asset Management) a total of £22.8 billion, plus an additional working capital loan facility of £2.5 billion to help with the orderly wind-down of the company.
	The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published an updated estimate of the direct fiscal cost of financial sector interventions on 23 March 2011. On the basis of the current market prices and, where these were not available, on an assessment of the fees and losses associated with the interventions, the estimated eventual benefit to the taxpayer is £3.4 billion.
	The recent estimate is based on:
	the current market value of the Government's shareholdings in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group which implies a cost of £1.6 billion related to these investments;
	the Asset Protection Agency's (APA) central expectation that there will be no net payouts to RBS under Asset Protection Scheme. Taking into account minimum fees, there is likely to be a net benefit to the taxpayer of at least £5 billion from the APS; and
	the expectation that the aggregate costs of all other interventions will not be material after fees, income and recoveries are taken into account.

Revenue and Customs: Corruption

David Ruffley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases of corruption involving customs officers which involved illegal drugs there were in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: I have been asked to reply.
	Customs responsibilities at the border moved to the UK Border Agency in August 2009. There have been no cases of corruption involving customs officers (including those who are now UK Border Agency staff) and illegal drugs in the last five years.

Revenue and Customs: Deloitte

David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings the Permanent Secretary for Tax in HM Revenue and Customs has had with the Chairman of the UK Board of Partners at Deloitte in each year between 2002 and 2011.

David Gauke: holding answer 15 March 2011
	There is no information held prior to 1 January 2006.
	As head of the tax profession for HMRC, the Permanent Secretary for Tax is responsible for ensuring that key business leaders, accountancy firms and leading tax professionals understand what HMRC expects in terms of tax compliance and administration. As a consequence, he meets a large number of private sector tax leaders on a regular basis which helps him deliver on this commitment. Since 1 January 2006 to the present, he has met the Chairman of the UK Board of Partners at Deloitte on 48 occasions.

Taxation: Child Benefit

Guto Bebb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  in which half of the income distribution of UK families a single earner family with two children in receipt of an annual income of £42,500 will fall from April 2013 after implementation of changes to taxation and child benefit;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the percentile of income distribution into which a single earner family with three children and in receipt of an annual income of £42,500 will fall from April 2013 after implementation of proposed changes to taxes and child benefit;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the percentile of income distribution into which a single earner family with two children and in receipt of an annual income of £40,000 will fall from April 2013 after implementation of proposed changes to taxes and child benefit.

David Gauke: holding answer 18 March 2011
	Child benefit will be withdrawn from families containing a higher rate taxpayer from January 2013. Affected families are within the top 20% of the incomes of all families (including those without children).

Taxation: Handbooks

Edward Balls: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to resume annual publication of HM Treasury's Tax Benefit Reference Manual or publish in an alternative form the information contained in that document on historic taxes and benefits.

David Gauke: Information on current rates of taxes and benefits is freely available at:
	www.direct.gov.uk.
	Information on many historic rates can be found on the websites of the relevant Government Departments.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Departmental Work Experience

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what advice his Department provides to those wishing to (a) work as an intern, (b) undertake a work experience placement and (c) work as a volunteer in his Department.

Owen Paterson: The Northern Ireland Office does not issue any specific advice to those wishing to work as an intern, undertake work experience or work as a volunteer in this Department. As a small Department of 164 people, the scope for such placements is limited. Any request for a placement is dealt with on a case by case basis.

EDUCATION

Teachers: Pensions

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what impact assessment has been undertaken of the proposed changes to the Teachers Pension Scheme; and what estimate he has made of the change in the opt-out rate that would result from implementation of the changes.

Nick Gibb: At the spending review the Government announced changes to the level of employee contribution rates which would lead to total savings of £2.8 billion a year by 2014-15, to be phased in from April 2012. Discussions about how this will be implemented are on-going with unions in the context of wider ranging pension discussions. The Government will put forward proposals in June, and will then begin formal consultation on the necessary changes to scheme regulations.
	The Government are committed to protecting low earners and ensuring changes are both sustainable and progressive.
	The Treasury published an estimate of likely opt-out rates at the spending review:
	http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sr2010_policycostings.pdf
	This estimate has been scrutinised by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, and will be reviewed when the Government puts forward final designs.

Teachers: Pensions

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what arrangements are in place to ensure that the changes to the Teachers Pension Scheme are sustainable and progressive;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effects of the proposed changes to the Teachers Pension Scheme on part-time members of staff who are members of the scheme.

Nick Gibb: At the spending review the Government announced changes to the level of employee contribution rates which would lead to total savings of £2.8 billion a year by 2014-15, to be phased in from April 2012. Discussions about how this will be implemented are on-going with unions in the context of wider ranging pension discussions. The Government will put forward proposals in June, and will then begin formal consultation on the necessary changes to scheme regulations.
	The Government are committed to protecting low earners and ensuring changes are both sustainable and progressive.
	The Treasury published an estimate of likely opt-out rates at the spending review:
	http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/sr2010_policycostings.pdf
	This estimate has been scrutinised by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, and will be reviewed when the Government puts forward final designs.

JUSTICE

Charter of Fundamental Rights: EU

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the Report of the Application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Kenneth Clarke: The Report on the Application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights was published by the European Commission on 1 April. An explanatory memorandum was deposited in Parliament on 18 April which sets out the Government's assessment of the report. The Government consider that regular review of the application of the Charter is a useful exercise in ensuring that the EU does not breach the rights of individuals and support the clear restatement in the report of the situations in which the Charter applies.

Charter of Fundamental Rights: EU

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Kenneth Clarke: The role of the Fundamental Rights Agency is to provide relevant institutions and authorities of the Union and its member states with assistance and expertise on fundamental rights when implementing Community law, and to support them in taking measures and formulating appropriate courses of action. Through research and analysis it develops comparable data from across the EU on fundamental rights in relation to current policy issues. The Government consider that the agency has carried out thoughtful research and analysis and has played a useful role in publishing comparative data on issues which can often be overlooked.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the budget is for (a) the Legal Services Board, (b) the Legal Services Commission, (c) the Legal Services Consultative Panel, (d) the National Archives, (e) the National Offender Management Service, (f) the National Probation Service, (g) the Northern Ireland Court Service, (h) the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission, (i) the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission, (j) the Offices of Courts Funds, (k) the Office of the Information Commissioner, (l) the Office of the Judge Advocate, (m) the General Office of the Judicial Committee, (n) the Office for Judicial Complaints, (o) the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman, (p) the Office of the Public Guardian, (q) the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee, (r) the Parole Board, (s) the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, (t) the Prison Service Pay Review Body, (u) the Sentencing Council, (v) the Tribunal Procedure Committee, (w) the Tribunals Service, (x) the Victims Commissioner and (y) the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales in each year of the comprehensive spending review period.

Kenneth Clarke: Budgets for 2011-12 have now been formally allocated to business groups within the MoJ and future year funding is yet to be approved and allocated.
	The following table sets out the resource departmental expenditure limit (DEL) funding allocated in 2011-12.
	The DEL funding allocated to MoJ's executive agencies and executive non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) is aligned to MoJ's Main Estimate, which was published on 26 April 2011.
	
		
			 £000 
			 Organisation 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 Executive agencies     
			 National Offender Management Service (includes National Probation Service)(1) 3,781,967 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (includes Office of the Judge Advocate)(3) 1,193,674 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Office of the Public Guardian(4) (500) (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			      
			 Executive NDPBs     
			 Legal Services Commission 2,251,400 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Parole Board 11,000 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
		
	
	
		
			 Office of the Information Commissioner 4,586 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Youth Justice Board for England and Wales 379,978 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Legal Services Board(5) 0 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			      
			 Other bodies(6)     
			 Tribunal Procedure Committee 11,500 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Prisons and Probation Ombudsman 5,546 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Official Solicitor and Public Trustee 5,200 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Sentencing Council 1,620 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Victims' Commissioner 1,100 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Office for Judicial Complaints 893 (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 Bodies not funded by MoJ     
			 Northern Ireland Court Service(7) Agency of the Department of Justice for Northern Ireland, not the MoJ 
			 Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission These sit with Northern Ireland, not the MoJ 
			 Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission These sit with Northern Ireland, not the MoJ 
			 Offices of Court Funds (Court Funds Office) Funded from interest from the Court Funds Investment Account 
			 Prison Service Pay Review Body This sits as part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 
			 General Office of the Judicial Committee No matching body found 
			 The National Archives Funded directly by Parliament, not the MoJ 
			 Legal Services Consultative Panel Ceased to exist on 1 January 2010 
			 (1) Estimated funding for the National Probation Service is £822 million.  (2 )Not yet allocated.  (3) Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is an agency of the MoJ, set up from April 2011, establishing a new unified administration of courts and tribunals. Estimated funding for the Office of the Judge Advocate is £1.2 million.  (4) Resource expenditure for the Office of the Public Guardian is estimated at £34.l million gross. The budget stated in the table is net of £34.6 million of income recovery.  (5) Expenditure for the Legal Services Board is estimated at £5 million gross, which will be met by the same amount of income recovery. The net budget stated is after their income budget from fees and levies on the legal professions has been subtracted from their budgeted expenditure. The budget is DEL neutral.  (6) Funding for the other bodies is broadly agreed and is in the process of being formally allocated.  (7) Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service is an agency of the Department of Justice for Northern Ireland, set up from April 2011, establishing a new unified administration of courts and tribunals.

Human Rights

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had on the possible accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights; and what assessment he has made of the earliest date on which the EU could accede to the Convention.

Kenneth Clarke: The Council of the European Union appointed the Commission to negotiate accession on behalf of the EU in June 2010, on the basis of an agreed negotiating mandate. The Commission has since met regularly with a group of experts elected by the member states of the Council of Europe, including one from the United Kingdom, to prepare the accession agreement, including any necessary adaptations to the Convention system. An early draft of the agreement was recently prepared by the Council of Europe Secretariat based on these negotiations, which will now form the basis of further discussions and drafting refinement.
	The negotiating group has a mandate to consider this issue until the end of the year. Article 218 (8) of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union states that the European Council's decision concluding this agreement shall enter into force after it has been approved by the member states in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements. The agreement will also need to be ratified by the members of the Council of Europe. The EU cannot accede to the Convention until all of these steps have been completed so it is not currently possible to provide an accurate estimate of the earliest date for accession.

Human Trafficking

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the reasons are for the difference in time taken compared to the previously published timetable for the announcement of the successful provider in the bid to co-ordinate support services for adult victims of trafficking; and when he plans to make this announcement.

Crispin Blunt: The launch on 15 December 2010 of the procurement process to select an organisation to co-ordinate and contract for support services for adult victims of human trafficking saw the release of a number of supporting documents, including a potential timetable for the process. The actual time taken over the course of the procurement process was slightly longer than outlined in this provisional timetable as it included:
	i. additional time for the development of the final service specification, which was informed by information and views put forth by bidders at the open dialogue stage of the process;
	ii. additional time for bidders to write and submit their final bids; and
	iii. additional time for the evaluation of bids.
	All bidders were informed of any changes to the timetable as and when they occurred. Bidders were notified of the outcome of the procurement process on 11 April 2011.

Legal Aid

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people used the telephone to access legal aid advice in 2010-11.

Jonathan Djanogly: Community Legal Advice provided over 389,000 acts of assistance in 2010-11. Of this, specialist telephone advisers provided nearly 125,000 acts of assistance, and over 264,000 enquiries were closed at the triage stage by the operator service resolving the issue to the clients' satisfaction or referring them to a local face-to-face provider or alternative helpline. These figures have not yet been audited. Final figures will be reported in the Legal Services Commission's Annual Report and Accounts for 2010-11.

Sentencing

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many custodial sentences of (a) one month or less, (b) two months and (c) three months are being served by women prisoners; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: The following table shows the number of female prisoners serving short sentences in prison establishments in England and Wales, as at 31 December 2010, broken down by detailed sentence length band.
	
		
			 Sentence length Number of female prisoners 
			 Less than or equal to one month 12 
			 More than one month up to and including two months 42 
			 More than two months up to and including three months 89 
			 More than three months up to and including six months 251 
			 Unrecorded less than or equal to six months''' 16 
			 Total less than or equal to six months(1) 410 
			 (1) Detailed sentence length breakdown is not recorded centrally for this group These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Broadband

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how he plans to monitor progress in the delivery of high speed broadband services across the UK.

Edward Vaizey: Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) has identified a set of indicators addressing the four themes of coverage: take-up, speed, price and choice. BDUK is consulting with industry on the proposed indicators via the Broadband Stakeholder Group and will publish the framework on its website in due course.

Horserace Totalisator Board

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he plans to make a decision on the future ownership of the Tote.

Jeremy Hunt: The Government hope to conclude the final stages of the process for resolving the future of the Tote and to announce the outcome later in the spring in line with the timetable set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Budget 2011.

PRIME MINISTER

Tony Blair

David Amess: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  what Government facilities have been made available to Tony Blair at his request since June 2007; what the cost has been for each facility; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what funds the Government has provided to Tony Blair since May 2010; for what purpose; and if he will make a statement.

David Cameron: As a former Prime Minister, Mr Blair is entitled to claim the Public Duties Cost Allowance.
	The Office of the Middle East Quartet Representative is supported by civil service secondees paid for by their sponsor Department. The Office also received a £400,000 contribution from the Department for International Development in August 2007 to support the setting-up of its office in Jerusalem. UK embassies also occasionally provide practical support to Mr Blair overseas in order to facilitate the effective execution of his duties as Quartet Representative.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Burma: Earthquakes

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what emergency relief he has provided to people affected by the earthquake in Shan State, Burma.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) has consulted closely with United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on the ground in the area of Shan State struck by an earthquake on 24 March 2011. DFID carefully considered the case for emergency aid and concluded that most immediate critical needs were being met adequately by the Burmese authorities along with other donors including UN agencies, international and local NGOs, neighbouring countries and the private sector.
	DFID will continue to keep the humanitarian situation in Burma closely under review. Over the next four years DFID will provide £185 million for the Burmese people, working through UN agencies and NGOs and focusing on health, education, livelihoods, civil society and people affected by conflict.

Departmental Accountancy

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether any ministerial directions have been issued to the accounting officer of his Department since his appointment.

Alan Duncan: There have been no ministerial directions issued since the Secretary of State’s appointment.

EU Aid

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had at EU level on improving the effectiveness and value for money of the EU development budget.

Stephen O'Brien: The Secretary of State for International Development discussed improving the effectiveness and value for money of the EU Development Budget at an informal meeting of European Development Ministers on 22 February 2011. He stressed the importance of transparency and the need to focus on results. Issues raised in the Multilateral Aid Review were covered and the findings of the Review with regard to EU assistance were welcomed by many member states’ colleagues and by the European Commission.

Ivory Coast: Politics and Government

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Ivory Coast; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: The humanitarian situation in Côte d’Ivoire remains critical. Food, water and sanitation, urgent medical care, the protection of civilians and shelter for some 800,000 displaced and those communities affected by the conflict are needed. Over 150,000 people have now crossed the border to seek refuge in neighbouring Liberia. While some have started to return to their homes, it is anticipated that significant numbers of refugees will remain in Liberia for as much as a year.
	Britain has already announced significant support and is contributing substantially to the humanitarian response in both Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire, making the UK the second largest bilateral humanitarian donor. Last month’s emergency aid package of support in Côte d’Ivoire alone is helping to provide food for some 17,000 displaced Ivoirians and host villages, as well as safe clean drinking water, shelter, medical treatment and household items to over 10,000 people.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Departmental Offices

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 14 March 2011, Official Report, column 150W, on departmental offices, for what reasons he proposes to collect hard evidence relevant to his Department's activities through regional offices; and what consideration he has given to the central collection of such evidence.

Mark Prisk: A key role of the Department's officials based throughout the country will be to gather timely intelligence of local economic conditions. As these officials are located across the country, they will collect information which may not be apparent to the Department's London-based officials. Further, they will be able to interpret any information more readily using their better knowledge of the local economic environment.
	The Department is also working to develop a capacity to collect information on current business conditions across the country which will be co-ordinated centrally where that is appropriate. This capacity will include a regular national business survey which should be able to track changes in business conditions over time at sub-national levels. These survey results will be shared with local partners, such as Local Enterprise Partnerships and local authorities, as well as being made publicly available. The Department has just started a procurement process to identify a supplier; a supplier should be in place by this summer.

EU External Trade: India

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential economic benefits to the UK of a Free Trade Agreement between India and the EU.

Mark Prisk: The UK strongly supports an ambitious EU-India free trade agreement (FTA). The European Commission's Sustainability impact assessment estimates that the EU as a whole could gain €4.4 billion in the short run and €1.6 billion in the long run. Once negotiations are concluded, it will be possible to estimate more accurately the potential gains to the EU and to the UK.

Post Offices

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with Post Office Ltd on staffing levels in field change teams; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: No such discussions have taken place as staffing levels in field change teams and across the business are operational matters for Post Office Ltd.

Post Offices

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people were employed by Post Office Ltd in its field change teams working directly on ongoing or temporary closures and other local network issues on (a) 1 March 2010 and (b) 1 March 2011.

Edward Davey: The information requested is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the managing director of the Post Office Ltd, to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries.

Post Offices: Closures

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many Post Office branches have been subject to long-term temporary closure since May 2010.

Edward Davey: The information requested is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the managing director of the Post Office Ltd, to respond directly to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries.

Public Expenditure

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the staff (a) costs and (b) complement of his Department, its agencies and its associated public bodies over the spending review period

Edward Davey: The administration budget for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) will reduce by 40% over the spending review, including a saving of up to £228 million in admin costs as a result of the abolition of the RDAs.
	BIS is also undertaking an ambitious programme of arm’s length bodies reform bringing the total number down from 57 to 33, with nine continuing under review and corporate service reform across the entire BIS network, which will cover estates, ICT, HR, finance and procurement functions in many BIS partner organisations.
	I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service, Companies House, National Measurement Office, Intellectual Property Office, Skills Funding Agency and the UK Space Agency and they will respond to the right hon. Member directly.
	Information on the Department's NDPBs is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Letter from Dr David Williams
	Thank you for your question addressed to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills asking what estimate he has made of the staff (a) costs of and (b) complement of his Department, its agencies and its associated public bodies over the Spending Review period.
	For the UK Space Agency the current estimate of staff numbers is 40 full time post equivalents, with an estimated cost of £9.3m over the Spending Review period.
	The agency has a number of vacancies, and has yet to factor in the admin cost reductions during the Spending Review. The numbers above are the best estimates and include posts transferred into the Agency and the vacancies.
	Letter from Peter Mason, dated 21 April 2011
	I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office (formerly National Weights and Measures Laboratory) to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 1 April 2011 reference 2010/4977 to the Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, asking about estimates of staff costs of and complement over the Spending Review period.
	The National Measurement Office has made the following estimates of staff costs and complement for the next four years. This information is also published in our Corporate Plan which is available on our website. These costs and complement encompass all the entirety of the Agency's activities, not all of which are paid for by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	
		
			  Staff costs (£000) Complement (FTE) 
			 2011-12 3,478 72 
			 2012-13 3,555 74 
			 2013-14 3,675 76 
			 2014-15 3,616 73 
		
	
	Letter from John Alty, dated 21 April 2011
	I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 1st April 2011, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	The Intellectual Property Office, which as a Trading Fund does not receive direct government funding, expects to have the following staff numbers and pay costs over the five year period.
	
		
			  £ million  (1) Numbers  (2) 
			 2011-12 35.7 878 
			 2012-13 36.’7 866 
			 2013-14 37.4 867 
			 2014-15 38.2 867 
			 2015-16 38.9 867 
			 (1) Pay, NI, Supan.  (2 )Full time equivalent. 
		
	
	Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 13 April 2011
	The Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has asked me to reply to your question what estimate he has made of the staff (a) costs of and (b) complement of his Department, its agencies and its associated public bodies over the Spending Review period.
	For 2011-12 the Insolvency Service currently has indicative figures for staff costs and complement as indicated in the table below. However, The Service is a demand-led organisation, and should case numbers rise or fall outside of current forecasts then the staffing requirement could be significantly different from that shown here. For this reason, and because The Service does not have funding allocations for future years, we are unable to provide firm figures for 2012-15.
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 Costs (£) 88,372,000 71,032,000 
			 FTE 2,525 2,050 
		
	
	Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 6 April 2011
	I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled 1 April 2011, UIN 4977 to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Over the Spending Review period Companies House has plans to reduce staff cost by around five million pounds from the present level, this will mean a reduction in staff complement of between 200 and 250 staff.
	Letter from Geoff Russell, dated 12 April 2011
	Thank you for your parliamentary question addressed to the Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills asking what estimate the Skills Funding Agency (the Agency) has made of its staff (a) costs and (b) complement over the Spending Review period.
	Please be advised:
	(a) the baseline staff cost was £101m (including on-costs) at the inception of the Agency on 1 April 2010 and has been reduced to an estimated £87m for the 2011-12 financial year. It is estimated that the staff cost will be reduced further to £66m by the end of the current Spending review period; and
	(b) the staff headcount at the inception of the Agency on 1 April 2010 was 1,896 (1,839 FTE) and the current staff headcount is 1,635 (1,590 FTE) at the start of the 2011-12 financial year. The Agency is working towards an establishment FTE of 1,264 by the end of the current Spending Review period.

University and Business Partnerships

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many meetings he has had with external bodies to discuss university and business partnerships in 2011-12 and 2012-13 in each month since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my ministerial colleagues and I have had regular meetings with representatives from business and higher education. This Government recognise the importance of university and business partnerships and have discussed this topic in a number of these meetings. Reforms to higher education innovation funding will provide greater incentives for higher education institutes to increase interaction with business and other users.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Burma: Earthquakes

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the recent earthquake in Shan State, Burma.

Jeremy Browne: An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck the Thai/Burma/Laos border area on 24 March 2011. There are reports that about 75 Burmese people died and a further 125 were injured. About 18,000 were affected in the area of the earthquake and infrastructure in Shan State was badly damaged. The relief effort continues and is focused on health, shelter and water and sanitation needs. Approximately £2 million has been contributed or pledged by bilateral donors, the private sector, individuals and other organisations. Department for International Development officials are in close contact with UN agencies and non-governmental organisations working on the ground and have assessed that immediate critical needs are being adequately met.

Burma: Politics and Government

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether staff from the British embassy in Burma have visited Kachin State in the last 12 months.

Jeremy Browne: Staff from our embassy in Rangoon most recently travelled to Kachin State in February and April 2011 to visit health care and conservation projects that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is funding. Officials also met local people to discuss issues connected with the construction of the Myitsone dam.

Burma: Politics and Government

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of forced relocation of ethnic Kachin people in advance of the construction of the Myitsone dam in Burma.

Jeremy Browne: The Government remain deeply concerned about the impact on human rights and on the environment of the construction of the Myitsone dam. Officials from our embassy in Rangoon visited Kachin state in February and April and met people in the affected area. Our embassy is in regular contact with local and international organisations working to highlight the social and environmental consequences of the dam's construction. We understand that construction of the dam, and extensive logging in the area, may mean that 15,000 Kachin villagers are relocated against their will to areas that will not support their livelihoods. We urge those involved in the dam's construction to apply the highest standards of corporate social responsibility and ensure that their investment benefits Burma's people.

Burma: Politics and Government

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Indian Government on the detention of democracy activists from Karen and Rakhine State in Burma.

Jeremy Browne: We understand from non-governmental organisation (NGO) sources that 34 Burmese ethnic activists may have spent the past 13 years in prison in India following allegations of gun running. NGO reports suggest that the charges against them were dropped last year but that the group remain in detention while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees considers granting them refugee status. We are also aware of NGO reports that allege that the authorities may be seeking to deport them. Our high commission in New Delhi drew these reports to the attention of the Chief Secretary of West Bengal last November. We will continue to follow up with the Indian authorities.

Columbia: Politics and Government

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart for an investigation into the recent assassination attempt made against Henry Gordon.

Jeremy Browne: We understand that on 14 January 2011 two gunmen intercepted Henry Gordon's car in a notoriously dangerous sector of Colombia. It is not clear whether this was an assassination attempt or an attempted robbery, so we have not made representations to the Colombian Government in this case.
	However, we will continue to monitor Mr Gordon's case and raise the matter with the Colombian Government should it prove necessary.

Columbia: Prisoners

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his Colombian counterpart on the imprisonment of Aracely Canaveral Velez.

Jeremy Browne: Staff at our embassy in Bogotá have made representations to the Vice President's Office in the case of Aracely Canaveral Velez. I am aware that she was arrested on 17 January 2011, and has been charged with aggravated conspiracy and drug trafficking. She is currently being held in Cartagena, a trial date has not yet been set.
	We raise our human rights concerns regularly with senior members of the Colombian Government. Most recently, I raised our human rights concerns with the Colombian Vice Minister for Defence Yaneth Giha or 11 January 2011 and Deputy Foreign Minister Patti Londoño on 26 January 2011 and discussed ways in which the UK can support efforts to improve the situation in Colombia.
	We continue to underline to the Colombian authorities that those charged with crimes should have their legal rights fully respected, including to a fair and efficient trial, but we cannot interfere in Colombia's judicial process.

Columbia: Trade Unions

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the number of trade unionists killed in Colombia in 2010.

Jeremy Browne: The Government of Colombia have stated that 37 trade unionists were killed in Colombia last year, while the trade unionist organisation, Escuela Nacional Sindical, reports that 35 trade unionists were killed in 2010.
	We continue to urge the Colombian Government to provide greater protection for human rights defenders, including trade unionists, and to work with the unions and employee organisations to strengthen labour relations in Colombia.
	We raise human rights issues regularly with senior members of the Colombian Government. Most recently, I met the Colombian Vice Minister for Defence Yaneth Giha on 11 January 2011 and the Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Patti Londoño on 26 January 2011. During these meetings I raised our human rights concerns and discussed ways in which the UK can support Colombian efforts to improve the situation.

Mexico: Human Rights

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effects of clauses on human rights and democracy in the free trade agreement between the EU and Mexico.

Jeremy Browne: The free trade agreement between the EU and Mexico includes a human rights clause as an essential element of the agreement, meaning that a breach of the clause can lead to the agreement's suspension. While there are ongoing human rights issues in Mexico, we work closely with the Mexican authorities to address them. We do not currently consider it necessary to invoke this clause.

Mexico: Human Rights

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of implementation in Mexico of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders.

Jeremy Browne: In order to implement effectively the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, EU missions and the EU Delegation in Mexico have:
	(a) established regional working groups that cover all Mexican states and organised several visits to follow up on specific cases and meet local authorities, local non-governmental organisations (including human rights defenders) and state level human rights commissions where appropriate;
	(b) discussed protection measures for various human rights defenders with the Minister responsible for human rights;
	(c) raised specific cases in the EU-Mexico annual human rights dialogue;
	(d) issued Heads of Mission statements following serious incidents and attacks against human rights defenders.
	We continue to be actively involved in this work.

Mexico: Human Rights

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the involvement of local non-governmental organisations in Mexico in the development of local implementation strategies for the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders.

Jeremy Browne: In order to involve local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the development of implementation strategies, EU mission delegations in Mexico have informally consulted them on the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders. The regional working groups established to support implementation strategies also meet with local NGOs regularly.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Disability Living Allowance

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much funding his Department spent on administering disability living allowance under the gateway for the benefit in the last 12 months.

Maria Miller: We are not able to say how much funding the Department spent on administering disability living allowance under the gateway for the benefit in the last 12 months.
	This is because our Management System does not provide this level of detail. We are able to tell you that the cost of administering disability living allowance, excluding corporate and shared services and investments, for the last 12 months (April 2010 to March 2011) was £134 million.
	Notes:
	1. The figure is rounded to the nearest million;
	2. These are the latest data that are currently available and are subject to year end accounting adjustments and final audit.
	Source:
	Department for Work and Pensions Activity Based Management System 2010-11

Carer’s Allowance

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many carers receive Carer's Allowance for looking after a person who receives the (a) middle rate and (b) higher rate care component of disability living allowance.

Maria Miller: The National Statistics datasets on carer's allowance do not contain any information on the identity or characteristics of the person being cared for. Similarly, the National Statistics datasets on disability living allowance claimants do not contain any information on the identity or characteristics of any person caring for the claimant. Some early analysis has been undertaken to use additional information to link the two datasets, but to quality assure the results to the standard required for parliamentary questions would incur disproportionate costs.

Child Maintenance

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of the performance of Vertex in delivery of the administration child maintenance payments; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	Letter from Stephen Geraghty
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of Vertex in delivery of the administration of the child maintenance payments; and if he will make a statement.
	Vertex Data Science Ltd manages cases on behalf of the Child Support Agency that for technical reasons cannot be progressed on our primary computer system (CS2). These are known as “off-system” cases.
	The performance of Vertex Data Science Ltd is measured on a monthly basis against a range of commercially agreed targets and client service standards. These align closely to those of the Child Support Agency and are reviewed formally through monthly and quarterly governance arrangements. In addition, the supplier is encouraged through the contract payment mechanisms, to ensure that all targets and client service standards are achieved or exceeded.
	The Commission continues to work closely with the supplier to improve client service and efficiency which has resulted in some key improvements. As a result more than 74,000 children, whose cases are managed off of the main computer system, benefited from more than £98 million of child maintenance collected and arranged in the year to 31 March 2011. This represents an increase of 29% in child maintenance collected and arranged to that achieved during 2009/10.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Departmental Manpower

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employees at each Civil Service grade are employed at his Department’s offices in (a) Norcross, (b) Warbreck House and (c) Bispham.

Chris Grayling: The number of individual employees, in each grade, employed at Norcross and at Warbreck Hill are in the following table.
	The figures are as at the end of December 2010 this being the date of the latest Public Sector Employment Statistics published by the Office for National Statistics.
	The Department does not employ any staff at Bispham.
	
		
			 Grade Norcross Warbreck House 
			 Administration Assistant 37 346 
			 Administration Officer 274 1,192 
			 Executive Officer 442 841 
			 Higher Executive Officer 365 81 
			 Senior Executive Officer 203 16 
			 Grade 7 (Principal Officer) 100 5 
			 Grade 6 (Senior Principal Officer) 44 7 
			 Senior Civil Service 10 1 
			 Total 1,475 2,489 
			 Note: Figures are staff in post ie individuals

Employment and Support Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the likely change in expenditure on contributory employment and support allowance as a result of limiting payments to 12 months in each of the first three years of the limitation; and if he will estimate the equivalent figures if the time limit were set at (a) six months, (b) two years, (c) three years and (d) four years.

Maria Miller: As part of the Welfare Reform Bill, we have set out our intention to introduce a time limit of one year for those claiming contributory employment and support allowance (ESA) and who are placed in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG).
	In the Welfare Reform Bill the time limit for contributory ESA claimants in the WRAG has been set at 12 months. The following table details the annual savings arising from the 12 month time limit and the other time limits requested. The savings include reductions to expenditure on contributory ESA net of expected costs to income-related ESA and other DWP administered benefits and are measured against a baseline forecast of the contributory ESA expenditure without time limiting.
	
		
			  Savings 
			  £ million 
			 Scenario 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 Welfare Reform Bill: 1 year time limit 0 400 800 1,100 
			 6 month time limit 0 700 1,050 1,400 
			 2 year time limit 0 150 350 650 
			 3 year time limit 0 50 150 300 
			 4 year time limit 0 0 50 100 
		
	
	Figures are in cash terms, and are for Great Britain. They are rounded to the nearest £50 million.

Employment Schemes

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking in relation to the involvement in the work programme of those organisations which did not gain prime contractor status.

Chris Grayling: All future welfare to work requirements, including the Work Programme will be delivered via a framework agreement and details of the organisations which have been selected onto the framework can be found under preferred suppliers on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) website.
	Providers not successful as a prime supplier for the Work Programme remain on the framework and will still be invited to tender for future welfare to work provision. Some providers unsuccessful as primes may be part of another's supply chain as a Work Programme sub-contractor.
	On 1 April 2011 DWP published the list of preferred suppliers for Work Programme contracts. Contact details for the prime suppliers will be published when post tender discussions have concluded and contracts have been signed for those providers interested in becoming involved in the future delivery of the Work Programme.

Employment Schemes

Anne McGuire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the criteria for the award of Work Programme contracts in Scotland took account of levels of experience in dealing with people most disadvantaged in the labour market.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) assessed all tenders for the Work Programme mini competitions from the framework for the Provision of Employment Related Support Services against the published evaluation criteria. This was based both on quality and financial aspects of the tenders. The evaluation was conducted without prejudice based entirely on the evidence contained within the tenders. The preferred bidders were publicly announced on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender in each contract package area, i.e. that which, in the opinion of DWP, offered the best combination of quality, financial capacity and acceptable level of risk.
	Within the evaluation process, there was clear focus on the supply chain. Prime providers were required to state how they will work with sub-contractors to ensure the needs of all the hardest to help customers are fully addressed. In addition to ensuring that the customer journey is tailored to meet an individual’s specific needs taking into account local considerations to meet the needs of customers within the contract package area.

Housing Benefit

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether housing benefit restrictions will apply to tenants deemed to be under-occupying their social rented accommodation where they are in work but retaining some housing benefit entitlement.

Steve Webb: We intend that the restrictions for under occupancy will apply to social sector tenants of working age receiving housing benefit whether or not they are in employment.

Jobcentre Plus: Manpower

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff were employed by Jobcentre Plus in each (a) office, (b) London borough and (c) region on (i) 6 April 2010 and (ii) 6 April 2011.

Chris Grayling: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Matthew Nicholas
	The Secretary of State has asked Darra Singh to reply to your question asking how many staff were employed by Jobcentre Plus in each a) office; b) London Borough; and c) region on i) 6 April 2010 and ii) 6 April 2011. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to Darra Singh as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. As Darra Singh is currently on annual leave, I am replying in his absence.
	Due to the level of information requested, the information has been placed in the Library. The information is drawn from our payroll system. The figures are in Full Time Equivalents and, where appropriate, have been rounded to the nearest whole number. They cover the Jobcentre Plus operation in London. The dates that have been used are 31 March 2010 and 31 December 2010. The latter represents the latest date for which published information is available.

Jobcentre Plus: Temporary Employment

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many Jobcentre Plus staff on a fixed-term contract have had their contract extended in March or April 2011 in each (a) London borough and (b) region;
	(2)  what the average length was of fixed-term contract extensions offered to Jobcentre Plus staff in March and April 2011 in each (a) London borough and (b) region.

Chris Grayling: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to reply to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Matthew Nicholas
	The Secretary of State has asked Darra Singh to reply to your questions regarding how many Jobcentre Plus staff on a fixed-term contract have had their contract extended in March or April 2011 in each (a) London borough and (b) region and what the average length was of fixed-term contract extensions offered to Jobcentre Plus staff in March and April 2011 in each (a) London borough and (b) region. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to Darra Singh as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. As Darra Singh is currently on annual leave, I am replying in his absence.
	The details requested are not available by individual London borough. The information that is available is detailed in the table below.
	In total 246 employees have had their contract of employment extended during March to April 11.
	
		
			 London district London local authority borough Number FTA extended March and April 2011 Average length of extension (months) 
			 East London Hackney 12 4 
			  Newham   
			  Tower Hamlets   
		
	
	
		
			  Barking   
			  Dagenham   
			  Havering   
			  Redbridge   
			  Waltham Forest   
			     
			 North London Barnet 50 6 
			  Enfield   
			  Haringey   
			  Camden   
			  Westminster   
			  Islington   
			  Kensington and Chelsea   
			     
			 South London Bexley 39 4 
			  Bromley   
			  Croydon   
			  Greenwich   
			  Lewisham   
			  Merton   
			  Sutton   
			  Lambeth   
			  Southwark   
			     
			 West London Brent 145 6 
			  Ealing   
			  Hammersmith and Fulham   
			  Harrow   
			  Hillingdon   
			  Hounslow   
			  Richmond upon Thames   
			  Kingston upon Thames   
			  Wandsworth   
			     
			 London total  246 5.6

Jobcentre Plus: Temporary Employment

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Jobcentre Plus staff were employed on a fixed-term appointment in each (a) London borough and (b) region between April 2009 and April 2010.

Chris Grayling: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Matthew Nicholas
	The Secretary of State has asked Darra Singh to reply to your question asking how many Jobcentre Plus staff were employed on a fixed term appointment in each a) London borough; and b) region between April 2009 and April 2010. This is something that, falls within the responsibilities delegated to Darra Singh as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. As Darra Singh is currently on annual leave, I am replying in his absence.
	The information set out in the table below. The figures are in Full Time Equivalents and, where appropriate, have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
	
		
			 London boroughs Fixed-term appointments 
			 Barking and Dagenham 39 
			 Barnet 34 
			 Bexley 32 
			 Brent 48 
			 Bromley 23 
			 Camden 44 
			 Croydon 50 
			 Ealing 47 
			 Enfield 65 
			 Greenwich 37 
			 Hackney 82 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 66 
			 Haringey 56 
			 Harrow 26 
			 Havering 31 
			 Hillingdon 39 
			 Hounslow 24 
			 Islington 79 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 19 
			 Kingston upon Thames 20 
		
	
	
		
			 Lambeth 54 
			 Lewisham 58 
			 Merton 9 
			 Newham 71 
			 Redbridge 59 
			 Richmond upon Thames 18 
			 Southwark 21 
			 Sutton 25 
			 Tower Hamlets 72 
			 Waltham Forest 74 
			 Wandsworth 5 
			 Westminster 53 
			 London region total 1,380 
			 Source: Dataview IT payroll system

Mortgages: St Albans

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in St Albans constituency received support for mortgage interest payments in each of the last five years.

Steve Webb: The information requested on pension credit (PC), income support (IS) and jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants receiving help with mortgage interest in St Albans parliamentary constituency is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 PC, IS, JSA claimants receiving mortgage interest 
			  Number  s  (1) 
			 August 2006 200 
			 August 2007 200 
			 August 2008 100 
			 August 2009 200 
			 May 2010 200 
			 (1 )These numbers are based on very few sample cases and are subject to a high degree of sampling variation, therefore these figures should be used as a guide only. Notes: 1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Figures are based on 5% sample data. All figures are subject to a degree of sampling variation. 3. Caseload figures have been uprated by using 5% proportions against 100% Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) data. 4. Figures provided are a point in time estimate at August in each year 2006 to 2009. Due to a problem with the latest data for August 2010, which is being investigated, we have provided data for May 2010 until this is resolved. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5% samples.

Pensions

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the average pension for an individual with average earnings of (a) £10,000, (b) £15,000, (c) £25,000, (d) £35,000 and (e) 45,000 with (i) 30 years and (ii) 40 years of full contributions who retires in (A) 2011, (B) 2016, (C) 2020, (D) 2025 and (E) 2050.

Steve Webb: The table gives estimates of the weekly gross state pension entitlements of hypothetical individuals with different lifetime earnings profiles and numbers of qualifying years for the basic state pension.
	The hypothetical individuals presented are assumed to be male, and to begin employment aged 25. They are assumed to work continuously for 30 or 40 years, and then remain inactive until they reach state pension age. Each individual’s annual gross earnings are assumed to be flat across their working life, when expressed in 2011-12 earnings terms. So an individual with average earnings of £10,000 is assumed to earn £10,000 in each year of employment.
	These hypothetical individuals are purely illustrative; they are not representative of the general population. In reality, people will have more complex and varied histories of national insurance contributions and credits, resulting in more varied state pension outcomes.
	Gross state pension entitlement refers to an individual’s full weekly entitlement deriving from national insurance contributions, before any deductions have been made due to periods spent in contracted-out employment. Individuals who have been in contracted-out employment will receive some of their entitlement from their private pension schemes when they retire, instead of from the Government. Therefore, the state pension they receive from the Government will be lower than illustrated in this table.
	The Government are currently consulting on two options for state pension reform for future pensioners, as set out in the consultation paper “A state pension for the 21(st) Century” published on 4 April 2011. The Government have made clear that contributions to the current system will be honoured under any new state pension arrangements.
	
		
			 Estimated weekly gross state pension entitlement, by gross earnings, number of qualifying years towards the basic state pension, and year of state pension age (£ per week, 2011-12 earnings terms, in year reaches state pension age) 
			 £ 
			  Number of qualifying years towards basic state pension 
			  30 40 
			  Year reaches state pension age Year reaches state pension age 
			 Average gross earnings over working life (£ per year, 2011-12 earnings terms) 2011 2016 2020 2025 2050 2011 2016 2020 2025 2050 
			 £10,000 114 120 123 126 148 134 137 138 141 163 
			 £15,000 129 133 134 134 148 150 150 150 149 164 
			 £25,000 159 161 160 153 157 186 183 180 173 172 
			 £35,000 190 190 186 174 162 224 217 210 196 177 
		
	
	
		
			 £45,000 215 214 207 189 164 255 243 233 211 179 
			 Notes: 1. Amounts are rounded to the nearest £1. 2. State pension here includes the basic state pension and the additional state pension, where the latter includes entitlement built up under the state earnings related pension scheme and the state second pension, but excludes graduated retirement benefit. 2. Figures are entitlements in the years individuals reach state pension age. 3. Figures are in 2011-12 earnings terms. 4. Figures exclude additional amounts payable due to individuals choosing to defer claiming their state pension. 5. Figures include entitlements deriving from own national insurance contribution records only. 6. The individuals are assumed to be male (this only affects the calculations during the period in which the equalisation of state pension age occurs). 7. Calculations use the Office for Budget Responsibility’s economic forecasts for the March 2011 Budget, available at: http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2011/ 8. Figures ignore entitlement due to home responsibilities protection or national insurance credits. 9. Figures exclude income from means-tested benefits. 10. More information on the concept of gross state pension entitlement, as opposed to net entitlement, is available at: http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2011/gross_state_pension_entitlement.pdf Source: Department for Work and Pensions estimates

Social Security Benefits

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will review the prices charged by undertakers who accept payments from his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The funeral payment scheme provides a payment towards the cost of a simple, respectful, low cost funeral. The scheme covers the necessary costs of burial or cremation in full. A significant contribution is also made towards the fee levied by funeral directors, currently set at £700.
	We have no plans to review the prices charged by undertakers.

Universal Credit

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households entitled to (a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit also received assistance with childcare costs in the latest period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: Information on housing benefit and council tax recipients who are also receiving assistance with childcare costs is not available.
	The Department does collect information on the amount of child care disregard allowed on the housing benefit/council tax benefit data source (SHBE) but to assess the completeness of recording and quality assure the figures would incur disproportionate cost.

Work Capability Assessment: Appeals

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to bring forward proposals to shorten the time taken for a decision to be made on an appeal lodged against the outcome of a work capability assessment; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The Department and the Ministry of Justice have been working together to improve the appeals process.
	In 2010 Jobcentre Plus and Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) piloted improvements to the appeals process for employment and support allowance (ESA) and income support. Following this, Jobcentre Plus implemented a new approach which involves direct telephone contact with ESA customers, to identify any other information that may be relevant and explain how decisions have been arrived at. This was fully rolled out nationally for all benefits by 1 November 2010.
	The aim of the improved process is to enable more disputes to be resolved internally, which in turn will allow for more appeals to be cleared without the need to send to HMCTS for hearings.
	The Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions are also working together as part of a Task Force with HMCTS, Jobcentre Plus and the Pensions, Disability and Carers Service. The Task Force is working on two broad fronts. The first is to reduce the number of appeals arising from initial decision making. The second is to increase capacity within HMCTS.

Work Capability Assessment: Appeals

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken was between the submission of an appeal against the outcome of a work capability assessment with Jobcentre Plus and a decision on that appeal being made at a tribunal in each year since the employment and support allowance was instituted.

Chris Grayling: Information on the average time taken for handling employment and support allowance (ESA) appeals is not available. While the Department for Work and Pensions does not publish such figures, Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does hold data on the average time taken to clear an ESA appeal. This is taken from date of receipt at HMCTS to final promulgation of the First-tier Tribunal decision. The data are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Employment support allowance (work capability assessment): Cases cleared in the periods specified  (1) 
			  Average time in weeks from receipt of appeal in HMCTS to outcome 
			 October 2008 to March 2009 1.92 
			 April 2009 to March 2010 12.64 
			 April 2010 to February 2011 19.40 
			 (1) Employment and support allowance was introduced 27 October 2008. Note: The first disposed appeals against work capability assessments were in January 2009. It is important to note that these were not heard by a tribunal (as they were “non hearing clearances”, i.e. they were withdrawn, superseded or struck out cases); this explains why the clearance times were considerably lower in the first reported period.

TRANSPORT

Driving Offences: Hertfordshire

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what revenue was collected through speed camera penalty charge notices in (a) St Albans constituency and (b) Hertfordshire in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Michael Penning: Following the ending of the National Safety Camera Funding Scheme in 2007, all fixed penalty income, whether or not the offence was detected by camera, goes to the Consolidated Fund.
	Data on the number of fixed penalties issued and paid per year for all motoring offences and separately on all speeding offences detected by camera are collected centrally and published as part of National Statistics. These are outlined in detail within Chapter 3 of the Home Office Statistical Bulletin: “Police Powers and Procedures”. Sections 3.3 and 3.4 deal respectively with fixed penalty notices generally and notices issued on the basis of speed camera evidence respectively.
	The latest publication outlines data for the financial year 2009-10 as well as making reference to historical data. This was published on the 14 April.
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/police-research/hosb0711/hosb0711?view=Binary

Electric Vehicles: Subsidies

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many payments his Department has made to provide a subsidy for the sale of electric-powered motor vehicles to date.

Norman Baker: Between 1 January 2011, when the Plug-In Car Grant commenced, and 20 April 2011, 534 cars have been registered to receive a grant (for which payments are being processed). 213 of these cars have been delivered to customers. Of the 534 cars, 465 cars were ordered within the first quarter of 2011. This figure will be updated and published on a quarterly basis.
	In addition to the Plug-In Car Grant, the Government have supported the following:
	283 ultra low emission vehicles put on the road through the Technology Strategy Board's ultra low carbon vehicle demonstration programme;
	201 low carbon and all electric vans placed in public sector fleets through the Low Carbon Vans Public Procurement Programme; and
	£46.8 million to local authorities and bus operators to assist them in purchasing 526 hybrid-electric and 16 all-electric buses.

Railways

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate his Department has made of annual passenger numbers travelling between (a) London and Birmingham, (b) London and Leeds and (c) London and Manchester.

Theresa Villiers: The Department for Transport itself has made no estimates of the number of passenger journeys made between these cities.
	However, figures published by HS2 Ltd give passenger numbers per weekday to and from central London and Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds in 2008.
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110131042819/http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/demandandappraisal/pdf/report.pdf
	Figures from the Civil Aviation Authority show that in 2010 1,047,000 passengers flew between the five main London airports and Manchester airport and 51,000 between London and Leeds-Bradford airport. There were no scheduled passenger flights between London and Birmingham airport.

Railways: Finance

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what equality impact assessment he undertook in making his decision to suspend funding for local rail projects.

Theresa Villiers: The Department for Transport has not suspended funding for local rail projects. A number of schemes have been included within the Local Transport Major Schemes ‘Development Pool’ including the Croxley Rail Link and a package of rail improvements in and around Leeds and Coventry to Nuneaton, alongside a number of other light rail and other public transport schemes. Final decisions on all these schemes will be taken in December.
	Promoters of local rail projects can also bid for funding from the local sustainable transport fund and regional growth fund.

Railways: Rolling Stock

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) full train length equivalent diagrams and (b) carriages will be built for (i) Crossrail, (ii) Thameslink, (iii) the Intercity Express Programme and (iv) other rail services in each of the next 10 years.

Theresa Villiers: The information requested is in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of vehicles Approximate number of diagrams 
			 Thameslink (1)1,200 106 
			 Intercity Express Programme (1)600 100 
			 Crossrail (1)600 57 
			 West Coast 106 — 
			 National Express East Anglia 120 27 
			 London Midland 69 24 
			 Chiltern 8 3 
			 TPE 36 8 
			 (1) Around

Railways: Rolling Stock

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport by what date he expects existing Intercity diesel units to have been withdrawn from the rail network.

Theresa Villiers: Subject to the Government continuing to be satisfied that the proposal offers value for money, the first phase of the Intercity Express Programme will see withdrawal of the East Coast Intercity 125 trains, and almost all of the Great Western Intercity 125 trains by the end of 2018. Some existing stock is expected to remain in service to operate services to Penzance via the Cornish Main Line.
	These trains are owned by private rolling stock companies and leased to train operating companies. Some of the trains may be released from the Great Western and East Coast lines on other franchises, and on non-franchised operations, or may remain as reserve stock until the expiry of existing leases in 2019.
	The replacement of the remainder of the trains on Great Western remains a priced option within the procurement.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Products: Clones

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the policy of her Department is on the sale of meat and milk products from the offspring of cloned animals.

James Paice: The European Commission and other member states do not consider that food from an animal descended from a clone falls within the scope of existing legislation on novel foods, which would require pre-market authorisation. The Food Standards Agency is considering results from a recent consultation before deciding whether to adopt the Commission’s position and expects to make an announcement shortly.

Animal Products: Clones

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the policy of her Department is on the introduction of a traceability scheme for meat and milk products from the offspring of cloned animals.

James Paice: There is no traceability system that can be applied to either imported or home produced products from descendants of clones. A requirement to identify all descendants of clones worldwide would be impractical and unenforceable. The European Food Safety Authority, the UK’s Food Standards Agency and the UK’s Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes have all concluded that meat and milk from healthy cloned cattle and pigs and their descendants is as safe as that from traditionally bred animals. This means that the cost of attempting to introduce such a system, which could not deal with imported food or with food derived from descendants of clones already present in the EU, cannot be justified.
	If some parts of industry wish to set up their own systems for traceability and labelling they are of course free to do so, providing that they carry out the necessary checks to justify any claims that they make.

Animal Welfare

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to announce the Government’s response to the Radcliffe recommendations on animal health policy in England.

James Paice: On 13 December 2010, the Advisory Group on Responsibility and Cost Sharing, independently chaired by Rosemary Radcliffe, published its report.
	I announced in a written ministerial statement (WMS 67) on 26 April 2011, Official Report, columns 3-4WS, that the Government are setting up a new Animal Health and Welfare Board for England (AHWBE). The proposal for the Board has been developed, taking account of the recommendations in the Advisory Group report. This fulfils a Business Plan commitment to:
	“Set out plans on animal disease responsibility sharing by April 2011”.

Bees: Pesticides

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the pesticide approved regime in relation to neonicotinoid pesticides.

James Paice: holding answer 26 April 2011
	Pesticides are only approved if a thorough scientific risk assessment shows that they can be used without unacceptable impacts on people and the environment. The Government have received representations that academic research indicates that neonicotinoid insecticides, which meet the requirements for approval, could be harming populations of bees and other pollinator species. Government scientists have considered all the published evidence cited, together with unpublished data submitted as part of the regulatory regime, and advise that it does not indicate a need to remove or restrict approvals.
	Regulatory science is under constant development and a requirement for data on the impact of neonicotinoids on overwintering of bees has been identified and is being incorporated into the EU approvals system. Where such studies have been conducted to date they have not demonstrated a cause for concern. The Government will continue to engage actively with researchers and regulators from around the world regarding this issue and will not hesitate to take further action if a need emerges.

Bees: Pesticides

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Wycombe (Steve Baker) of 9 February 2011, Official Report, column 274W, on bees: pesticides, if she will commission evidence on the relationship between neonicotinoid pesticides and the size of the bee population;
	(2)  if she will assess for benchmarking purposes the differential effects of restrictions on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on the levels of the bee population in (a) the UK, (b) France, (c) Germany and (d) Italy.

James Paice: holding answer 26 April 2011
	A scientific report submitted in December 2009 to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), entitled “Bee Mortality and Bee Surveillance in Europe”, highlighted weaknesses in the surveillance systems employed by many member states leading to a lack of representative data at country level and comparable data regarding colony losses at EU level. However, the available data suggested that in recent years colony losses in England and Wales were lower than in a number of other European countries. The European Commission issued a Communication to the European Parliament and the Council in December 2010 outlining a number of initiatives to improve bee health in the EU. One of these was the commencement of a pilot surveillance programme in order to gain a better understanding of the situation across the EU.
	The honey bee population varies during the year from around 20,000 per colony in the winter to 60,000 per colony in the summer. As honey bees are a managed species, their population is subject to decisions taken by beekeepers about how many colonies to maintain or expand in any one year and the beekeepers’ success in this work. In recent years, both the number of beekeepers and colonies has increased in England, as shown by the Food and Environment Research Agency’s National Bee Unit’s voluntary register of beekeepers, BeeBase. Currently, there are nearly 20,000 beekeepers managing about 104,000 colonies compared to 16,000 beekeepers managing about 80,000 colonies in 2008.
	Over the last two years, there has been a significant reduction in the number of colonies that have been lost during the beekeeping season (i.e. from April to October) in England and Wales. During the 2010 season, 5.8% of colonies inspected were found to be dead compared with 6.9% the previous year. These figures are considerably lower than in 2008 when 12.3% of colonies inspected were found to be dead and last year’s losses were the lowest since 2001. There is no clear relationship with usage data on neonicotinoid pesticides where the area treated in the UK has increased steadily since they were first approved. Given the EU initiatives on bee health and work by other international bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there is currently no justification for additional specific research on the relationship between neonicotinoid pesticides and the size of the UK bee population, but this will be kept under review.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has had discussions with Ministers in the Welsh Assembly Government on (a) the operation of the badger cull programme in Wales and (b) the implications of adopting a different policy in England; whether her Department is giving consideration to allowing volunteers to cull badgers in affected areas following her Department’s consultation on badger control policy; and if she will make a statement.

James Paice: I have regular contact with the Minister for Rural Affairs in the Welsh Assembly Government on a range of issues, including bovine TB and badger control. In addition, officials in England and Wales have regular discussions about this issue.
	I must emphasise that no decision has yet been taken on whether to permit badger culling in England. We received a large number of responses to our recently concluded consultation, which we are considering carefully. This is a difficult and sensitive issue and we need to get it right. We will announce our decision as part of a comprehensive and balanced TB Eradication Programme for England as soon as possible.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will ensure no culling of badgers is sanctioned by her Department for the purposes of preventing the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB); and if she will take steps to prevent the switching of bTB ear tags by farmers.

James Paice: No decision has yet been taken on whether to permit badger culling. We received a large number of responses to our recently concluded consultation, which we are considering carefully. This is a difficult and sensitive issue and we need to get it right. We will announce our decision as part of a comprehensive and balanced TB Eradication Programme for England as soon as possible.
	Evidence has emerged that a small number of farmers may have been illegally swapping cattle ear tags in order to retain highly productive TB reactors. As a result, I announced that from mid-April in England, DNA tags will be inserted into the ears of cattle that test positive for TB at the time of disclosure and a sample of its DNA retained by Animal Health VLA. These samples will then be cross-checked at random, or where fraud is suspected, against the DNA of animals sent to slaughter.

Cattle: Clones

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the number of cattle which originate from a cloned parent.

James Paice: It is not possible to estimate the number of cattle that are descendants of clones either in the UK or elsewhere. There is no requirement to identify whether semen, embryos, or animals themselves are derived from clones or from animals with clones in their ancestry. A requirement to identify all descendants of clones worldwide would be impractical and unenforceable.
	We are aware of a small number of immediate offspring of a clone and some further descendants on UK farms.

Departmental Manpower

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) actual and (b) full-time equivalent staff her Department employed on the latest date for which figures are available.

Richard Benyon: On 31 March 2011, DEFRA and its Executive agencies employed 9,689 staff in terms of headcount and 9,112 in full-time equivalents.

Environment Protection

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what definition of a green job her Department uses.

James Paice: There is no internationally agreed definition of a 'green job' that we can draw on for our own purposes. However, getting people back into employment, rebalancing the economy and supporting a strong and sustainable green economy are key objectives for the Government. The green economy will be supported and enabled by a thriving low carbon and environmental goods and services sector and it will also involve the ‘greening’ of other sectors—and associated occupations—in the economy.

Flood Control

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to receive the conclusions of the Flood Rescue National Capability Enhancement Project; and how frequently she meets (a) officials and (b) ministerial colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government to discuss planning for flood emergencies.

Richard Benyon: The Secretary of State expects a final report from the Flood Rescue National Enhancement Project by July 2011.
	The Secretary of State meets as necessary both officials and ministerial colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government to discuss planning for emergencies.

Forestry Commission: Manpower

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people were employed by the Forestry Commission on the latest date for which figures are available.

James Paice: At the end of March 2011 the Forestry Commission, as a non-ministerial Department for England, Scotland and Wales, employed 3,232 people, in both full-time and part-time positions.

Forests: Access

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to ensure that (a) cycling and (b) equestrian access which are not classified as rights of way are given adequate protection under any future reforms to the public forest estate.

James Paice: The Independent Panel on Forestry set up by the Secretary of State will advise on the future direction of forestry and woodland policy in England, on the role of the Forestry Commission, and on the role of the public forest estate. The panel will give consideration to options for enhancing public benefits from all woodlands and forests, including public access for recreation and leisure. Further information relating to the work of the panel can be found on the DEFRA website.
	The Secretary of State will give careful consideration to the panel's report when it is submitted in spring 2012.

Horse Racing: Animal Welfare

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will meet representatives of the horseracing industry to discuss standards of safety and welfare in the Grand National.

James Paice: There are no plans for the Secretary of State to meet the horseracing industry to discuss standards of safety and welfare in the Grand National.
	It is always upsetting to hear about the death of any racehorse during a race, particularly at a popular event such as the Grand National. However, we are satisfied that the British Horseracing Authority, by working with animal welfare organisations such as the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare, takes the necessary steps to make the Grand National as safe as possible for horses.

Members: Correspondence

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of 14 February 2011 regarding early day motion 403 on circus animals.

James Paice: The Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my noble Friend Lord Henley, responded to the letter on 25 February. I will forward a copy to the hon. Member’s office.

Pesticides

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which pesticides were banned from use in the UK in each of the last 30 years.

James Paice: The marketing and use of pesticides (or plant protection products) are prohibited unless they have been approved by Ministers. Approved products may be reviewed to ensure that they continue to meet modern standards of safety. Products which do not meet those standards are refused approval or, if they are already on the market, are withdrawn. Active substances used in plant protection products are subject to similar arrangements for approval and periodic review at European Union level. If approval of an active substance is withdrawn, approvals of all products that contain it are withdrawn.
	Approval holders may also withdraw products or active substances on their own initiative and for their own reasons. Official approvals are withdrawn in these cases.
	Withdrawn products and substances are not banned. It remains open to approval holders to submit new applications for approval with the necessary supporting data if they wish to do so.
	I have arranged for a table identifying the year in which an active substance was withdrawn in the United Kingdom to be placed in the Library of the House. It is based on the latest year in which a product containing it could be used. The information is available only for substances withdrawn since 14 August 1997. Those withdrawn before that date were not recorded in a database which can be interrogated, and information concerning them cannot be provided without disproportionate cost.

Salmon: Scotland

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate has been made of the contribution of the Scottish salmon industry to the UK economy.

Richard Benyon: There has been no assessment made by DEFRA with regard to the contribution of the Scottish salmon industry to the UK economy; salmon farming in Scotland is a matter devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

SCOTLAND

Members

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer of 1 April 2011, Official Report, column 515W, on Members, which hon. Members, other than those representing Scottish constituencies or who are members of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee are defined by his Department as having an interest in Scottish affairs.

David Mundell: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to parliamentary questions 50384 on 1 April 2011, Official Report, column 515W and to 49510 on 28 March 2011, Official Report, column 31W.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Accommodation

Nick Brown: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the answer of 28 March 2011, Official Report, column 11W, on location, who the intended user is of each unit of sleeping accommodation.

John Thurso: 2 Parliament street is occupied by the Serjeant at Arms and 3 Parliament street by the Clerk of the House, 2a and 2b Canon Row are occupied by the Head Office Keeper and a Senior Office Keeper and 4 Canon Row by the Speaker’s Secretary, all of whom are required to be available for duty at short notice.
	At 1 Parliament street, bedrooms are available for the Deputy Serjeant at Arms, Assistant Serjeant at Arms, Clerk Assistant, Clerk of Committees and Clerk of Legislation who are sometimes required to be present on the Parliamentary Estate over prolonged periods and at unpredictable times.
	In the Palace of Westminster, at Speaker’s House, in addition to the Speaker, his family and the family staff, sleeping accommodation is provided for the Assistant Secretary to the Speaker and the Speaker’s Trainbearer.
	In the Ways and Means Corridor, sleeping accommodation is provided for the Chairman of Ways and Means and his two deputies.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Departmental Manpower

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what public sector job reduction targets have been set for his Department and its non-departmental public bodies for each of the next 24 months; and what steps he plans to take to meet such targets.

Bob Neill: The Department has not set a formal public sector job reduction target. However, as part of the coalition Government’s ambition of a decentralised, more enabling state, we are restructuring our Department. The restructuring will be completed by October 2012, with the number of staff in the Department falling by around 32% or 700 posts, from current levels. To help realise this reduction the Department has already launched two successful voluntary exit schemes, which have generated around 280 offers of voluntary exit.
	To achieve the remainder of the necessary downsizing, over the next 12 months the Department is undertaking a selection exercise. The Department’s senior civil servants have already undertaken such an exercise, with the number of senior posts falling by a similar percentage to the Department overall.
	The Department has also not set any job reduction targets for its non-departmental public bodies. However, as a result of arm’s length bodies reform some will close, some will merge and some will reduce in size. The Department has agreed administration budgets with each of its arm’s length bodies. It is for the individual bodies to determine how to make savings to live within their administration budget.
	The closure of the Government offices for the regions, as of 31 March 2011, will also result in reductions. Currently this is expected to result in approximately 200 compulsory redundancies, with the final number depending upon how many staff obtain a post elsewhere in the civil service during their notice period and a number of other staff confirming their formal acceptance of voluntary redundancy terms. It is expected that approximately 500 staff will leave on voluntary redundancy terms.
	A number of residual regional development agency staff will transfer into the Department during the summer. These staff are not included in the figures quoted above.

Enterprise Zones

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what arrangements he plans to put in place to publicise and disseminate information on the potential benefits of enterprise zones.

Bob Neill: The Enterprise Zone Prospectus, published at Budget, provides guidance and information to local enterprise partnerships, local authorities and partners, such as local Chamber of Commerce, on the enterprise zone programme.
	The Government are also hosting two workshops for local enterprise partnerships on enterprise zones.
	Further information about the benefits of enterprise zones will be published in due course.

Enterprise Zones

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to ensure enterprise zones (a) are tailored to local needs and (b) encourage local partnerships.

Bob Neill: Local enterprise partnerships are at the heart of our commitment to establish the 21 enterprise zones across England. As business-led partnerships with a goal of driving sustainable economic growth across local economic areas, local enterprise partnerships are ideally placed to drive Enterprise Zones forward.
	The partnerships can act as the co-ordinating centre for the constituent local authorities, identify the barriers that hinder local growth and take the steps necessary to overcome such barriers.

Enterprise Zones

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to include incentives for training and educational opportunities within enterprise zones.

Bob Neill: Government have put forward a range of measures to develop enterprise zones and make them attractive places to do business. These include;
	A business rate discount of 100%, up to £275,000 over a five year period;
	All business rate growth generated by the zone for a period of at least 25 years will be keep by that area
	Local Enterprise Partnerships have been tasked with bringing forward proposals for enterprise zones in their areas. As part of this, they may want to consider the potential of a wider package of support for businesses in enterprise zones including working with local colleges and work programme providers.

Enterprise Zones

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he has assessed the likelihood that incentives in enterprise zones will be made available to businesses which would have moved into such areas without such incentives.

Bob Neill: Local enterprise partnerships are at the heart of our commitment to establish the 21 enterprise zones across England. As business-led partnerships, with a goal of driving sustainable economic growth across local economic areas, local enterprise partnerships are ideally placed to drive enterprise zones forward.
	The Enterprise Zone Prospectus, published at Budget 2011, specifically asks local enterprise partnerships to consider how best to minimise deadweight costs to help deliver genuine economic growth.

Enterprise Zones

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the amount that local authorities will receive from the retention of business rates within enterprise zones in each of the next three years.

Bob Neill: We have asked Local Economic Partnerships to come forward with proposals for enterprise zones. All business rate growth within the enterprise zone for a period of at least 25 years will be retained and reinvested in the local area, to support the relevant Local Enterprise Partnership’s priorities. The amount that authorities retain will depend on the nature of the successful bids.

Fire Services: Manpower

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 1 April 2011, Official Report, column 532-3W, on fire services, whether the figures for 31 March 2011 will appear in the Operational Statistics Bulletin (OSB) which his Department will publish in August 2011; whether the figures provided in the August 2011 OSB will be broken down by fire and rescue authority; and what the deadline is for fire authorities submitting such figures for publication in the OSB.

Bob Neill: The figures for 31 March 2011 will appear in the Fire and Rescue Service Operational Statistics Bulletin to be published in August 2011. As per previous editions, the data will continue to be available by Fire and Rescue Authority in Appendix table 2.
	The returns are due for submission from Fire and Rescue Authorities on 3 June 2011.

Fire Services: Manpower

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate has been made of the number of (a) whole-time firefighters, (b) retained firefighters, (c) fire control room staff and (d) all posts in each fire authority in England on 31 March 2012; and if he will ensure that (i) estimates and (ii) figures for each category in each fire authority are published (A) ahead of and (B) during each year of the current Comprehensive Spending Review period.

Bob Neill: The latest figures for the numbers of Fire and Rescue Service staff are for 31 March 2010. These are shown in the following table.
	Subject to my Department's broader review of data reporting burdens the Department will continue to monitor Fire and Rescue Service staffing levels on an annual basis, and these will continue to be published in the Department's Official Statistics publication ‘Fire and Rescue Service Operational Statistics’.
	
		
			 Fire and Rescue Service staffing strength, England, 31 March 2010  (1) 
			  Number 
			 Wholetime firefighters 29,735 
			 Retained duty system firefighters(2) 11,899 
			 Fire control staff 1,510 
			 Other staff 8,509 
			 Total staff 51,652 
			 (1) In full-time equivalents (FTEs), except retained duty system firefighters which are in 24 hour units of cover. (2) In 24-hour units of cover.

Historic Buildings: Property Transfer

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent reports he has received of local authority selling historic buildings in order to save costs.

Bob Neill: The only direct information my Department receives about local authority disposals is where the Secretary of State is asked to give consent for disposals of land at less than best consideration. We have had no cases like this.

Local Authorities

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to announce recent progress on his Department's review of statutory duties placed on local authorities.

Bob Neill: The cross Whitehall review of statutory duties aims to develop a more comprehensive picture of the legal obligations local authorities have and identify old and unnecessary burdens or barriers preventing councils from getting on with their job.
	We asked for initial public comments by 25 April 2011. We will now consider those comments carefully before deciding further action to be taken in relation to duties.

Local Government Act 1972

Rory Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress he has made on the proposal to repeal section 150(5) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Bob Neill: The Government’s proposal to repeal section 150(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 was announced on 9 October 2010. The announcement stated that the repeal was planned to come into force in 2011, and this remains our intention. A consultation paper setting out a draft legislative reform order will be published in due course.

Local Government: Pensions

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what arrangements are in place to ensure that the proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme are sustainable and progressive;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effects of the proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme on part-time members of staff who are members of the scheme;
	(3)  whether he has carried out an impact assessment of the proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme; and what his estimate is of the change in the opt-out rate resulting from implementation of the changes.

Bob Neill: At the spending review, the Government announced changes to the level of employee contribution rates in all public service schemes, including the Local Government Pension Scheme. Total savings in the scheme in England and Wales of £900million a year by 2014-15 are to be phased in from April 2012. The Government remain committed to protecting low earners and will ensure that changes are progressive and sustainable. Discussions about how changes will be implemented are ongoing with scheme interests in the context of wider ranging pension discussions. The Government will put forward proposals in due course for schemes generally and will then bring forward formal consultations on the necessary changes to scheme regulations.

Local Government: Pensions

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people had opted out of local government pension schemes on the most recent date for which figures are available.

Bob Neill: Membership details involving the Local Government Pension Scheme are obtainable from each of the scheme’s pension fund administering authorities, including opt-outs of current members. The Department does not hold this information.

Parish Councils: Bank Services

Mel Stride: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to bring forward proposals to enable parish councils to use online banking.

Bob Neill: Currently the requirements of section 150(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 place barriers in the way of parish councils using online banking facilities. Last October the Government announced their proposals to repeal section 150(5), with a planned implementation in 2011. This remains our intention.

Planning Permission: Appeals

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on a community right to appeal in the planning system.

Bob Neill: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) on 17 January 2011, Official Report, column 537.

Private Rented Housing: Regulation

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to reduce the regulatory burden on private sector landlords by simplifying and consolidating all regulations that apply to such landlords.

Grant Shapps: The Government believe that, in regulating the private rented sector, it is important to strike the right balance between over-burdening landlords and causing the sector to contract and ensuring that adequate safeguards are in place to protect tenants. Our view is that that current legislative framework gets this balance right.
	The existing legislation is well established and much guidance, including that provided by my Department, is available to help landlords and tenants understand their rights and responsibilities. Although these matters are kept under constant review, we have no plans at present to change or consolidate the existing framework.

Tenancy Deposit Schemes

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the operation of the Deposit Protection Scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Grant Shapps: The Deposit Protection Service is required to submit monthly reports on key performance indicators under the terms of its Service Concession Agreement with the Department for Communities and Local Government. In addition, the Department holds quarterly monitoring meetings with the service at which any performance issues can be discussed.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Hand-held Devices

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Leader of the House what representations he has received on the use of hand-held devices during proceedings of the House and its Committees.

David Heath: The Leader of the House has received no representation on this matter which is ultimately a matter for the House.
	The Procedure Committee has produced a sensible proposal in its Report. My right hon. Friend the Leader of the House wrote to the Chair of the Committee saying that we would both support a Motion in the terms proposed by the Committee to be debated in Back-Bench time.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Leader of the House for what reason the time allocated to questions for oral answer to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been reduced to 45 minutes; and if he will review that decision.

George Young: Following a request from the Official Opposition, the Government increased the time allocation for questions for oral answer to the Deputy Prime Minister. As a consequence of the pressures on the time available for oral questions, it was necessary for changes to be made to the rota.
	The status of the oral questions rota will of course be kept under review.

CABINET OFFICE

Cancer

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the level of (a) cancer incidence and (b) cancer mortality by (i) socio-economic group, (ii) gender, (iii) age, (iv) religion, (v) disability and (vi) ethnicity in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated April 2011
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what estimate has been made of the level of (a) cancer incidence and (b) cancer mortality by (i) socio-economic group, (ii) gender, (iii) age, (iv) religion, (v) disability and (vi) ethnicity in each year since 2001.
	The latest available figures for newly diagnosed cases of cancer (incidence) are for the year 2008. Please note that these numbers may not be the same as the number of people diagnosed with cancer, because one person may be diagnosed with more than one cancer.
	Tables 1 and 2 attached provide (a) the number of newly diagnosed cases of cancer in England by age group, for males (Table 1) and females (Table 2) for 2001 to 2008 (the latest year available).
	ONS does not publish figures on cancer incidence by socio-economic group, religion, disability or ethnicity, since it is not mandatory for cancer registries to collect this information for publication as National Statistics.
	Tables 3 and 4 attached provide (b) the number of deaths where cancer was the underlying cause of death in England and Wales by age group, for males (Table 3) and females (Table 4) for 2001 to 2009 (the latest year available).
	Copies of these tables have been placed in the House of Commons Library.
	ONS does not routinely publish mortality statistics by National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) however figures for 2001-03 are available. Table 5 provides the age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population, where the underlying cause of death was cancer in England and Wales for men aged 25-64 and women aged 25-59 by NS-SEC for 2001-03 (the only period available).
	Mortality statistics are provided using the information collected at death registration. It is not possible to obtain from these mortality statistics the deceased religion, disability status or ethnicity.
	The latest published figures on the incidence of cancer in England and death registrations in England and Wales are available on the National Statistics website.
	Cancer incidence:
	www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/mb1-39/mb1-no39-2008.pdf
	Death registrations:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15096
	
		
			 Table 1: Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of all cancer excluding non melanoma skin cancer, by age group, males, England, 2001-08  (1,2) 
			 Males 
			 Age group 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
			 <1 61 53 67 67 65 53 58 54 
		
	
	
		
			 01-04 222 256 249 229 239 245 241 259 
			 05-09 178 197 159 204 186 204 151 144 
			 10-14 187 218 180 215. 177 219 184 206 
			 15-19 294 308 297 326 350 330 321 346 
			 20-24 482 457 476 482 515 513 535 554 
			 25-29 682 598 586 666 714 767 789 807 
			 30-34 1,055 939 986 941 1,000 1,004 933 931 
			 35-39 1,340 1,314 1,312 1,426 1,507 1,433 1,441 1,416 
			 40-44 1,852 1,900 1,850 1,969 2,080 2,176 2,139 2,207 
			 45-49 2,826 2,888 2,848 2,971 3,104 3,181 3,116 3,320 
			 50-54 5,636 5,265 5,045 5,087 5,157 5,304 5,400 5,397 
			 55-59 8,663 9,218 9,513 10,252 10,428 10,448 10,093 9,657 
			 60-64 12,354 12,205 12,691 13,187 13,573 14,644 15,363 16,122 
			 65-69 16,934 16,792 16,989 17,853 17,976 18,081 18,477 18,625 
			 70-74 20,104 19,856 19,428 20,340 20,006 20,315 20,390 20,679 
			 75-79 20,295 19,857 19,964 20,097 19,961 20,424 20,084 20,326 
			 80-84 13,673 14,297 14,892 15,952 15,496 15,680 15,215 15,329 
			 85+ 10,310 9,952 9,553 9,636 10,409 11,380 11,432 11,724 
			 (1) Cancer incidence is defined using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00-C97 excluding code C44, non-melanoma skin cancer. (2) Newly diagnosed cases registered in each calendar year. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of all cancer excluding non melanoma skin cancer, by age group, females, England, 2001-08  (1,2) 
			 Females 
			 Age group 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
			 <1 49 53 64 58 63 50 57 40 
			 01-04 203 229 202 195 211 215 213 172 
			 05-09 151 136 150 132 137 109 116 129 
			 10-14 171 169 155 171 159 159 161 165 
			 15-19 232 236 229 259 282 263 276 227 
			 20-24 385 414 456 418 496 509 500 499 
			 25-29 858 800 768 827 911 963 1,015 1,055 
			 30-34 1,619 1,670 1,693 1,604 1,634 1,638 1,579 1,540 
			 35-39 2,757 2,734 2,766 2,854 2,772 2,922 2,855 2,784 
			 40-44 4,018 3,746 4,173 4,321 4,592 4,668 4,768 4,712 
			 45-49 5,630 5,450 5,672 5,852 6,058 6,338 6,316 6,752 
			 50-54 9,421 8,647 8,478 8,534 8,308 8,410 8,306 8,680 
			 55-59 10,164 10,679 11,636 11,694 11,487 11,726 11,203 10,831 
			 60-64 11,049 11,016 11,555 11,987 12,378 12,918 14,256 15,016 
			 65-69 11,709 11,930 12,661 13,104 14,049 14,171 14,238 14,311 
			 70-74 14,455 14,253 14,186 13,966 14,286 14,223 13,987 14,456 
			 75-79 15,877 15,373 15,348 15,062 15,571 15,594 15,427 15,516 
			 80-84 12,984 13,357 14,538 14,621 14,610 14,795 14,214 14,229 
			 85+ 14,335 13,704 13,756 13,450 14,114 14,863 15,273 15,592 
			 (1) Cancer incidence is defined using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00-C97 excluding code C44, non-melanoma skin cancer. (2) Newly diagnosed cases registered in each calendar year. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Number of deaths with an underlying cause of cancer, by age group, males, England and Wales, 2001-09  (1,2,3) 
			 Males 
			 Age group 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 
			 <1 5 3 6 7 4 8 9 1 4 
			 01-04 39 46 40 39 41 40 39 30 26 
			 05-09 43 56 46 52 48 39 51 53 37 
			 10-14 51 67 58 48 37 70 41 29 35 
			 15-19 77 86 81 84 61 87 79 60 84 
			 20-24 99 99 97 105 97 99 95 106 102 
			 25-29 127 121 100 122 103 135 132 128 125 
			 30-34 255 217 225 204 181 238 192 171 183 
			 35-39 410 387 390 391 381 371 341 364 331 
			 40-44 664 694 738 671 672 693 738 628 707 
			 45-49 1,323 1,324 1,282 1,221 1,279 1,254 1,208 1,269 1,257 
			 50-54 2,885 2,636 2,453 2,441 2,248 2,291 2,232 2,181 2,161 
			 55-59 4,427 4,665 4,775 4,527 4,571 4,608 4,386 4,103 4,005 
			 60-64 6,412 6,459 6,372 6,275 6,373 6,609 6,869 7,017 7,140 
			 65-69 8,832 9,017 8,878 8,841 8,640 8,674 8,747 8,677 8,720 
		
	
	
		
			 70-74 11,775 11,759 11,376 11,231 11,154 10,725 10,648 11,033 10,956 
			 75-79 13,485 13,325 12,971 13,068 12,560 12,788 12,621 12,643 12,408 
			 80-84 10,428 10,841 11,663 12,006 11,827 11,702 11,771 11,848 12,054 
			 85+ 9,324 9,422 9,293 9,239 9,953 10,594 11,132 11,754 12,174 
			 (1) Cause of death for cancer was defined using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00-C97. (2) Figures for England and Wales include deaths of non-residents. (3) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 4: Number of deaths with an underlying cause of cancer, by age group, females, England and Wales, 2001-09  (1,2,3) 
			 Females 
			 Age group 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 
			 <1 5 5 4 5 5 3 7 3 6 
			 01-04 33 36 37 26 20 39 28 32 31 
			 05-09 48 39 41 34 35 31 29 31 33 
			 10-14 47 41 51 41 46 29 44 27 39 
			 15-19 52 65 69 59 57 48 60 40 39 
			 20-24 67 57 75 83 74 59 84 59 66 
			 25-29 142 119 128 116 111 110 128 133 102 
			 30-34 321 316 287 281 255 224 217 237 213 
			 35-39 618 588 526 547 536 547 540 495 448 
			 40-44 970 977 957 997 1,016 981 988 1,017 938 
			 45-49 1,605 1,632 1,605 1,582 1,544 1,561 1,631 1,596 1,533 
			 50-54 3,066 2,818 2,705 2,533 2,508 2,418 2,436 2,447 2,393 
			 55-59 3,971 4,208 4,152 4,271 4,394 4,306 4,019 3,747 3,720 
			 60-64 5,036 5,055 5,045 5,126 5,136 5,360 5,768 5,971 5,831 
			 65-69 6,571 6,581 6,468 6,672 6,715 6,603 6,539 6,686 6,654 
			 70-74 9,267 8,984 8,783 8,466 8,264 8,109 8,174 8,232 8,392 
			 75-79 11,076 10,894 10,642 10,286 10,428 10,272 10,080 9,990 9,769 
			 80-84 9,970 10,514 11,106 10,974 10,907 10,751 10,778 10,649 10,310 
			 85+ 12,708 12,898 12,505 12,202 12,613 13,159 13,923 14,344 14,394 
			 (1) Cause of death for cancer was defined using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00-C97. (2) Figures for England and Wales include deaths of non-residents. (3) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 5: Age-standardised mortality rates from cancer, by National Statistics Socio-economic Classification, men aged 25-64 and women aged 25-59, England and Wales, 2001-03  (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 
			 Rate per 100,000 
			  Men Women 
			  95% confidence limits 95% confidence limits 
			 NS-SEC Rate Lower limit Upper limit Rate Lower limit Upper limit 
			 1 Higher managerial and professional 82 80 84 75 72 78 
			 2 Lower managerial and professional 99 97 101 77 75 80 
			 3 Intermediate 91 87 95 73 69 77 
			 4 Small employers and own account workers 109 107 112 87 82 91 
			 5 Lower supervisor and technical 140 137 143 102 96 108 
			 6 Semi-routine 147 143 151 90 86 95 
			 7 Routine 158 155 161 116 108 123 
			 (1) Age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (2) Confidence intervals are a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and show the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. (3) Cause of death for cancer was defined using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00-C97. (4) NS-SEC for men assigned using reduced derivation incorporating adjustment to death counts in classes 2 and 3 for misallocation of certain occupations. Complete methodology in White C, Edgar G, and Siegler V (2008) ‘Social inequalities in male mortality for selected causes of death by the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification, England and Wales, 2001-03’, “Health Statistics Quarterly” 38,19-32, available on the National Statistics website at: www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?ID=2005&Pos=9&ColRank=1&Rank=1 (5) NS-SEC for women assigned by the ‘combined’ method whereby if married the most advantaged class of either the woman or her husband is used to represent the woman’s classification. Adjustments for under-recording of death have been applied. Complete methodology in Langford A, Johnson B, and Al-Hamed A (2009) ‘Social inequalities in female mortality by regions and by selected causes of death, England and Wales, 2001-03’, “Health Statistics Quarterly” 44, 7-26, available on the National Statistics website at: www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?ID=2314&Pos=4&ColRank=1&Rank=1 (6) Figures for England and Wales include deaths of non-residents. (7) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.

Census

Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office for what reasons the contract for handling the UK 2011 Census data was awarded to a non-British company; what steps will be taken to ensure (a) the security of data and (b) the privacy of the individuals providing it; what access will be granted to personal data about named individuals; under what circumstances such access may be granted; which (i) public bodies and (ii) other organisations will have access to such data; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated April 2011
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) I have been asked to reply to your recent question to the Minister for the Cabinet Office asking (i) for what reason the contract for handling the UK 2011 Census data was awarded to a non-British company; (ii) what steps will be taken to ensure (a) the security of this data and (b) the privacy of the individuals providing it; (iii) what access will be granted to personal data about named individuals; under what circumstances such access may be granted; (iv) which (i) public bodies and (ii) other organisations will have access to such data; and if he will make a statement. (52433)
	(i) The Office for National Statistics (ONS) carries out the census in England and Wales. Lockheed Martin UK was awarded a contract in August 2008 to provide a range of services to support the 2011 Census in England and Wales. The contract was awarded following a fully compliant procurement in accordance with the requirements of European law and the European Union Procurement Directives, which have been incorporated into English law. Lockheed Martin UK has subcontracted operations to a range of UK or EU owned companies. Lockheed Martin UK does not handle 2011 Census data.
	UK Data Capture has been subcontracted by Lockheed Martin UK to receive, scan and process questionnaires at a specially commissioned site in Manchester. The data is then passed to ONS to analyse the data and produce census statistics.
	(ii) (a) The confidentiality of census personal information is a top priority for the ONS. The UK has a 200 year track record of maintaining confidentiality which ONS intends to uphold. Security has been a fundamental aspect of the whole census design. The broad principles and strategic approach covering privacy, security and confidentiality of census information were set out in Chapter 6 of the White Paper ‘Helping to shape tomorrow’ (CM 7513), laid before Parliament in December 2008.
	The Census collects information from each person and household in the country but it is not concerned with facts about individuals as such. Its purpose is to provide facts about the community, and groups within the community, as a whole. The information collected in the census will be used solely for the production of statistics and statistical research. The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) makes it a criminal offence, subject to a maximum penalty of 24 months imprisonment and/or a fine, for a member or employee of the United Kingdom Statistics Authority (of which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the executive arm) or any contractor, to unlawfully disclose personal information held by the Authority in relation to any of its functions.
	ONS has put in place operational arrangements to ensure that:
	all data processing will be carried out in the UK;
	ONS retains ownership of the data;
	only people who work for ONS have access to the full census dataset in the operational data centre;
	ONS controls system access rights to all data systems;
	everyone working with census data signs undertakings of confidentiality;
	no staff from either Lockheed Martin (the US parent) or Lockheed Martin UK will have access to any personal census data.
	The online census, for instance was built with data security as a primary requirement, employs the strongest form of encryption and has been subject to rigorous security tests, and meets government-information assurance and data security standards, and is ISO 27001 compliant, the industry standard for information security management.
	ONS has commissioned its own independent security testing of census systems, which has been carried out for us by SOPRA, a CESG approved CHECK service provider. ONS also commissioned an independent review of security and the report was published on 11 February. The report “2011 Census: Independent Information Assurance Review” has been placed in the House of Commons library and can be found on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-project/commitment-to-confidentiality/index.html
	The independent reviewers concluded that:
	“the public can be reassured that the information they provide to the 2011 Census will be well protected and securely managed”
	(b) A privacy impact assessment has been carried out and was published in November 2009 and the Independent Information Assurance review and the Privacy Impact Assessment available at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-project/commitment-to-confidentiality/index.html
	(iii) Access to personal census information is tightly restricted to those who are required to handle census questionnaires as part of the census data processing operation. This includes UK Data Capture staff at the Manchester processing centre who open returned questionnaire envelopes, scan the questionnaire pages and capture any handwritten responses which cannot be automatically read and coded, such as information relating to occupation and activity of employer.
	It also includes staff working for ONS on the quality assurance, edit and aggregation of census datasets, prior to statistical disclosure and anonymisation before production of statistical outputs.
	All these staff have been security cleared and sign a statutory census confidentiality undertaking as prescribed by Schedule 5 of the Census (England) Regulations 2010 and Census (Wales) Regulations 2010.
	Census information about named individuals is not shared with other government departments, local authorities, or businesses. Only statistical data which has been subject to statistical disclosure control measures to ensure individuals are not identifiable is released. Individual census returns are kept safe and secure for 100 years after which time they are made available as historical public records.
	(iv) (i) and (ii) Other than organisations contracted to ONS to support the census operation or to prepare and publish census related outputs, (and therefore subject to the security measures outlined in (ii) (a), no organisations have access to personal data about named individuals.

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  on what date (a) he and (b) each other Minister in his Department last used a ministerial car while travelling in an official capacity; and how many times (i) he and (ii) each other Minister in his Department has travelled to their constituency in a ministerial car since May 2010;
	(2)  how much his Department has spent on ministerial travel by (a) ministerial car, (b) train, (c) bus, (d) commercial aircraft and (e) private aircraft since May 2010.

Francis Maude: No Cabinet Office Ministers have an allocated GCDA ministerial car. Ministers may use the GCDA pool cars, and have occasionally used these to travel to their constituency, where a business requirement has justified this. The following table shows the dates CO Ministers last used a GCDA car, as at 1 April 2011.
	
		
			 Minister Date 
			 Francis Maude 31 March 
			 Oliver Letwin 10 March 
			 Nick Hurd 30 March 
			 Mark Harper 24 March 
			 Baroness Warsi 7 March 
		
	
	Since May 2010, the CO ministerial team has spent £60,149 on GCDA ministerial cars, £1,534 on ministerial train journeys and the details of overseas travel are published quarterly, and can be found on:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
	No amount has been spent on private aircraft.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Electoral Reform

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to publish a Bill to make provision for (a) individual voter registration and (b) the recall of hon. Members by constituents.

Mark Harper: On individual electoral registration, I announced in September last year that we will seek to bring forward a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny in the current session, and it remains our intention to do so.
	The Government have also given a firm commitment to bring forward proposals to establish a recall mechanism for MPs, and further details will be announced this Session.

House of Lords: Reform

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister by when he expects to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a wholly or substantially elected second Chamber.

Mark Harper: As my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister announced on 5 April 2011, Official Report, column 879, we will publish a draft Bill by the end of May 2011. The Bill will then be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny. The Government hope that this will be carried out by a Joint Committee of both Houses.

West Lothian Question

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what progress he has made in setting up a commission to address the West Lothian question.

Mark Harper: Careful consideration is ongoing as to the timing, composition, scope and remit of the commission to consider the West Lothian question. As I informed the House on 15 December 2010, Official Report, column 822W, the commission's work will need to take account of our proposals to reform the House of Lords to create a wholly or mainly elected second Chamber, the changes being made to the way this House does business, and amendments to the devolution regimes, for example in the Scotland Bill presently before Parliament, and we will make an announcement this year.

DEFENCE

Aircraft Carriers

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what missions have been flown from Royal Navy aircraft carriers between 2003 and 2010; and what type of craft was used in each mission.

Nick Harvey: The number of flights of each aircraft from Royal Navy aircraft carriers is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Children in Care

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what proportion of new recruits to the armed services aged between 16 and 18 years had been looked after children prior to their enlistment in each of the last five years.

Andrew Robathan: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Young People

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance his Department offers to members of the armed forces under the age of 18 who choose to leave the armed forces.

Andrew Robathan: Those under 18 who choose to leave the armed forces receive a resettlement brief which signposts employment, accommodation and welfare assistance available from ex-services welfare organisations and other Government Departments; information on preserved pension rights; and access to housing information. These ‘early service leavers’ also have a mandatory interview prior to discharge that includes an assessment of vulnerability to social exclusion and a review of their post-discharge accommodation arrangements. Extra help is offered to those assessed as vulnerable to social exclusion through the services of the Careers Transition Partnership. The same provision is given to any service leaver, irrespective of age, who has completed less than four years, service, or to an individual who is being compulsorily discharged.
	In addition, those under the age of 18 are carefully managed to ensure the individual's parent or guardian has been contacted and that the individual will return to them, or have their permission to return to a different address. The parent or guardian are provided with travel details and the discharging unit is required to contact them the following day to ensure the individual has arrived.
	Those under 18 are also provided with a rail warrant, and travel plans that ensure they reach the destination by 23:59, and transport (or fare) to the nearest railway station. Where arrival by 23:59 is not possible overnight accommodation is provided.

Arms Trade: Treaties

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent meetings (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials in his Department have had with their counterparts at the EU on the arms trade treaty.

Gerald Howarth: The Secretary of State for Defence fully supports efforts to secure an arms trade treaty. The Secretary of State and other Ministers are fully engaged in developments on an arms trade treaty and have discussed this issue with their counterparts in the course of normal Defence business.
	The UK, led by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is working closely with EU colleagues to secure an arms trade treaty. Ministry of Defence officials have contributed to this work where issues for Defence have arisen.

Army: Brecon

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with the Armed Forces on the future of the Regular Army Headquarters in Brecon; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: A project team has been set up to review the Army’s regional administrative structures within the UK. As part of this work the project team is currently looking at the functional responsibilities and span of control of each of the Brigades. This is a complex piece of work which will need to be considered alongside the other structural changes currently being examined across Defence as a result of the strategic defence and security review.
	I recognise the long association that exists between the town of Brecon and the military and I am grateful for the support that our armed forces have always found in Wales.

Aviation: Training

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what stage of training each trainee pilot who has been made redundant had reached prior to their notice of redundancy.

Nick Harvey: The RAF has finished the process of de-selecting RAF trainee pilots from the flying training pipeline. Students will now be considered for retention and retraining in alternative ground-based branches in the RAF. Those students affected will have progressed up to one of the following stages of training: Initial Officer Training, Elementary Flying Training or type-specific training for either Fast-Jet, Rotary or Multi-Engine. Further details will not be available until the selection process is complete. None of the de-selected trainee pilots has been selected for redundancy at this stage.

Departmental Land

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether revenues raised from the sale of land owned by his Department will be retained by his Department.

Gerald Howarth: As agreed with HM Treasury as part of the periodic spending reviews, receipts from the sale of property are retained by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and are reinvested by the Department in key priorities as part of the Defence budget.

Departmental Land

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what land owned by his Department has been sold in each of the last four years; and how much revenue was raised from such sales in each such year.

Gerald Howarth: A copy of the list of land sold by this Department in each of the last four years will be placed in the Library of the House.
	The revenue raised from such sales is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Financial year £ million 
			 2006-07 394 
			 2007-08 (1)1,160 
			 2008-09 110 
			 2009-10 77 
			 (1) Including Chelsea Barracks £959 million. 
		
	
	Figures for financial year 2010-11 are still subject to audit, and cannot yet be published.

Foreign Relations

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what occasions Ministry of Defence (a) officials, (b) Ministers and (c) military personnel have met their counterparts from (i) Sri Lanka and (ii) Pakistan since January 2010.

Nick Harvey: Regarding Sri Lanka, I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by the Secretary of State for Defence, the right hon. Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), on 21 December 2010, Official Report, columns 1204-5W.
	The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence visited Pakistan in February 2010 and met a number of Pakistani officials, including his Pakistani equivalent.
	The Chief of Defence Staff has visited Pakistan on three occasions during the period (in February 2010, November 2010 and March 2011) and on each occasion has met his Pakistani equivalent, the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS).
	The Chief of the General Staff visited Pakistan in February 2010, June 2010 and January 2010 and met CoAS and other senior Pakistani officers, including his equivalent.
	The First Sea Lord visited Pakistan in February 2010 and conducted a series of meetings with his Pakistani equivalent.
	The Chief of the Air Staff invited his Pakistani equivalent to an Air Chiefs' Conference in the margins of the Royal International Air Tattoo in 2010. He conducted a reciprocal visit to Pakistan during January 2011.
	The Ministry of Defence efforts to broaden and deepen our relationship with the Pakistani military have resulted in a number of other lower level visits during the period.
	Routine defence relations activity with Pakistan includes the provision of funded courses, exercises, attachments and exchanges of personnel.

Libya: Armed Conflict

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the unit cost of a UK (a) air to surface missile, (b) air to air missile, (c) ship to surface missile and (d) ship to air missile of the type deployed by UK forces in Libya.

Peter Luff: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House, but I refer him to the answer I gave on 4 April 2011, Official Report, column 569W, to the hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Tom Blenkinsop) in respect of Storm Shadow.

MOD Bicester

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much money MOD Bicester has paid to (a) Palletways (3PL Contract), (b) Pertemps Employment Agency and (c) City Sprint and other private couriers since the decision to implement the closure of regional distribution centres; and if he will make a statement. [Official Report, 12 July 2011, Vol. 531, c. 1MC.]

Peter Luff: holding answer 26 April 2011
	The total payments made to Palletways, Pertemps Employment Agency and private couriers (including City Sprint) since late 2007 when the regional distribution centres were closed, are provided in the following table:
	
		
			 £ million 
			 Company FY2007-08 (3 months) FY2008-09 FY2009-10 Total 
			 Palletways 0.547 1.917 2.134 4.598 
			 Pertemps 0 3.439 2.731 6.170 
			 Private couriers 0.880 — — — 
		
	
	As a direct result of the decision to close the regional distribution centres and centralise distribution activities at Bicester and Donnington with greater use of third party logistics contractors, annual net savings of around £4 million have been achieved.

Naval Air Warfare Capability

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the full regeneration of the naval air warfare capability;
	(2)  what timetable he has set for the full regeneration of the naval air warfare capability;
	(3)  what steps he plans to take to implement his proposals that the naval air warfare capability will be fully regenerated.

Nick Harvey: We plan to regenerate a carrier strike capability from around 2020, based upon an operational Queen Elizabeth (QE) class aircraft carrier fitted with catapults and arrestor gear and the F35-C Joint Strike Fighter.
	The current estimate of cost for the two QE class aircraft carriers is £5.2 billion of capital expenditure, which does not include the additional costs of installing catapults and arrestor gear for the operational carrier. We are currently investigating the best approach to carrying out this work.
	We have yet to make final decisions on the overall numbers of Joint Strike Fighters we intend to order and will not do so before the next planned Strategic Defence Review. The cost of each aircraft will depend on when in the overall production programme it is bought and will vary according to a number of factors, such as other partner nations' procurement plans. We do not routinely reveal the forecast cost of future programmes in order to protect the Department's position in commercial negotiations.
	Navy and Air Commands are developing plans to sustain and then regrow the skills and experience required to regenerate carrier strike capability. The transition plan includes a full analysis of all of the roles involved in delivering the new capability and a plan to deliver trained personnel to fill those posts in time to meet the introduction to service schedule.
	The move to the F35-C (Carrier Variant) Joint Combat Aircraft and the associated modifications to the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier will provide the UK with a world class capability superior to that previously planned in the decades to come.

Service Complaints Commissioner

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints were made to the Service Complaints Commissioner in every month since May 2010.

Andrew Robathan: The Service Complaints Commissioner (SCC) advises that 476 contacts were made to her between 1 May 2010 and 26 April 2011, varying by month from 32 to 58.
	Figures l-8c in the SCC’s annual report for 2010 provide more detailed information on the nature of potential complaints received by the SCC during calendar year 2010. The report is available at the following website:
	http://armedforcescomplaints.independent.gov.uk/
	A copy is available in the Library of the House.
	Analysis of contacts received in 2011 will be covered in the next annual report.

Service Complaints Commissioner

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of processing a complaint through the Service Complaints Procedure in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of processing a (a) successful complaint and (b) unsuccessful complaint through the Service Complaints Procedure in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gerald Howarth: No estimate has been made as the information on which it would be based is not held.
	In all three services, the Chain of Command at the lowest level (Commanding Officer) handles complaints without any dedicated resources. It is therefore, not possible to identify an average cost of processing a complaint.

Service Complaints Commissioner

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the average time taken to process a single complaint through the Service Complaints Procedure in the latest period for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan: The time taken to process individual complaints has not hitherto been recorded in a way that enables an average time to be estimated without disproportionate cost; each service having had a separate recording system. A new tri-service complaints recording process was introduced on the Joint Personnel Administration system from 1 January this year.
	The latest data on timeliness of the handling of Service Complaints against the agreed targets can be found in the Service Complaints Commissioner’s Annual Report 2010 at the following website address:
	http://armedforcescomplaints.independent.gov.uk/
	A copy is available in the Library of the House.

Solar Power

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on solar energy installations on the Sovereign Base Areas of (a) Akrotiri and (b) Dehekelia.

Nick Harvey: Over the two previous financial years (2009-10 and 2010-11), the Ministry of Defence has spent a total of £810,000 on the installation of solar energy systems in the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dehekelia, together with some £130,000 over the past two years on the management of such systems.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Combined Heat and Power

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions which have resulted from the use of combined heat and power generating units in the last five years; when he plans to publish his Department's heat strategy; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The estimated carbon savings from the use of CHP in the UK are given in the following table. The figure for 2010 will be published at the end of July 2011.
	
		
			  Estimated CO  2   savings (MtCO  2  ) 
			 2005 11.43 
			 2006 11.75 
			 2007 10.83 
			 2008 11.03 
			 2009 9.47 
		
	
	DECC is undertaking internal strategic analysis on the future supply of heat in the UK. This work is intended to ensure the Department maintains a clear understanding of the challenges associated with decarbonising the heat sector over time, and will link with our renewables and emissions targets and sit alongside the 2050 pathways work and our response to the Committee on Climate Change advice on carbon budgets. A decision on any future publication will be considered once our internal work has been carried out.

Combined Heat and Power

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for what reason the exemption of combined heat and power (CHP) generating units is being considered for removal from climate change regulations; what assessment he has made of any disincentive to invest in CHP generating units which may result from such a change; and what assessment he has made of the likely effect of such a change on competitiveness with other EU member states.

Gregory Barker: The Budget announced that CHP would receive relief from the carbon price support rates and that the exemption from the climate change levy for electricity generated from a CHP that is supplied indirectly to an energy consumer will be removed from 1 April 2013. The Government will work with the CHP industry to explore the most appropriate level of relief to ensure CHP remain incentivised through public subsidy.

Departmental Buildings

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the (a) name and (b) address is of each building owned by his Department; and what the estimated monetary value is of each such building.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not own any buildings.

Departmental Secondment

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many staff from which organisations have been seconded to his Department to work on electricity market reform.

Charles Hendry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 26 April 2011, Official Report, column 45W.

Departmental Work Experience

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many students from (a) the UK and (b) Bassetlaw constituency have been offered internships in his Department since 8 May 2010.

Gregory Barker: Since 8 May 2010 the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has taken on a total of 13 people on an internship basis, all of whom are UK residents. While we record the home addresses of all people working in DECC, we do not record which constituency they lived in at the time of their application so cannot confirm if any were from the Bassetlaw constituency.
	There are currently seven people still working in DECC on an internship basis.

Natural Gas: Exploration

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will publish the findings of each review undertaken by his Department of the preparedness for shale gas exploration in the UK in the last 12 months.

Charles Hendry: There has been no formal review, but the Department has submitted evidence to the Energy and Climate Change Committee's current inquiry into shale gas, available at:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmenergy/writev/shale/sg01.htm
	A group of regulators with relevant responsibilities (DECC, the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Agency) have since February been periodically in contact by teleconference to exchange relevant information.

Nuclear Power Stations: Safety

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has considered the merits of including in the scope of the review of nuclear safety by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (a) nuclear reactors, (b) spent fuel stores and (c) reprocessing plants.

Charles Hendry: The Chief Nuclear Inspector Mike Weightman made a statement on 29 March outlining the broad areas that would be included in the scope of his report.
	http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/fukushima/statement-290311.htm
	Dr Weightman will establish the facts of the unprecedented events at Fukushima, Japan and determine if there are lessons to be learned for the UK, to add to our very robust safety standards and arrangements. His report will be public, independent, evidence based, comprehensive, wide in scope and based on the best technical advice, consulting nationally and internationally with colleagues and organisations who, like us, have the safety and security of people and society uppermost in our minds.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change's request has made it clear that Mike Weightman has full independence to determine the scope of the report and the arrangements for conducting it.

Nuclear Power Stations: Safety

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with the nuclear industry on the nuclear safety review; and whether representatives of the industry have given any undertakings in respect of this issue.

Charles Hendry: The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Eastleigh (Chris Huhne) met industry representatives at the Nuclear Development Forum on 17 March 2011.
	At the forum the appointment of the Chief Nuclear Inspector, Dr Mike Weightman, to write a report on lessons to be learned from events in Japan was discussed and warmly welcomed by industry.

Oil: Refineries

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the likely effect on the competitiveness of the UK oil refining industry with that of other EU member states of the introduction of the carbon reduction commitment in the UK only; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Government have not undertaken any additional assessment on the impact of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme on competition since publication of the final impact assessment in January 2010. Participants with refineries will not need to purchase CRC allowances for emissions covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). However if the organisation is responsible for energy use other than that covered by a participant's obligations in the EU ETS or climate change agreements the participant will need to purchase CRC allowances for these, like all other CRC participants in the first phase of the CRC. The energy efficiency measures the CRC encourages can save organisations money through savings on energy bills and make them more competitive. The Government are currently reviewing the overlapping regulations facing CRC participants as part of our simplification review. My officials met the UK Petroleum Industry Association to discuss the concerns of the refining sector earlier this year.

Oil: Refineries

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effect of the regulatory regime in the UK on the recent decision of four oil refining companies to cease operating in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The UK has an open and competitive market for oil products, including oil refining. We consider this to be in the best long-term interest of consumers with regulation by the competition authorities and other regulatory bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
	A number of UK refineries are currently changing ownership or are for sale. Two refineries have been sold recently while a third will become part of a major joint venture agreement, all safeguarding local jobs.
	Individual company business strategies play an important role in investment decisions about individual refining assets. International oil companies are reducing their presence in the UK market in part to focus on upstream exploration and production but different companies are entering the market either as joint venture partners or asset owner/operators. That new investors wish to invest in the UK demonstrates the continuing and underlying attractiveness of the UK refining sector. The Government welcome new investors in the UK market and looks forward to working closely with these new companies in the future.

Oil: Refineries

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to ensure that vacated oil refinery capacity is maintained as insurance against the reduction or cessation of supply of oil products refined abroad.

Charles Hendry: The UK operates within an international market for petroleum products and it is for the market to decide whether to maintain spare or mothballed refining capacity. The UK does hold emergency oil stocks under international obligations for use in oil supply disruptions. The latest available data for the end of January 2011 report that the UK held emergency oil stocks of 13.5 million tonnes that are equivalent to 88 days worth of consumption, against an EU obligation of 67.5 days of consumption.
	Emergency oil stocks are more accessible than mothballed refining capacity that would take some time to re-activate. Furthermore I do not consider that it would be appropriate for the Government to intervene in an individual company’s economic decision on whether to mothball a refining asset as this may prevent companies from taking the right decisions for their businesses and could deter future investors from the UK market.

Tidal Power: Wales

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the performance of the tidal energy demonstration project in Pembrokeshire.

Charles Hendry: DECC does not carry out assessments on the potential generating performance of tidal energy devices. However, the tidal energy demonstration device off the Pembrokeshire coast (DeltaStream) has received the necessary consents from the Department and the Welsh Assembly Government to deploy their tidal energy device. When it is installed in the water, conditions in the consents will require that monitoring of the impacts of the project on the marine environment is undertaken by the developer.

Tidal Power: Wales

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has had discussions with the Welsh Assembly Government on its agreement to work with the Crown Estate on marine energy.

Charles Hendry: DECC has not had specific discussions on the Welsh Assembly Government and Crown Estate's agreement. However, we are working closely with the Welsh Assembly Government, the other devolved Administrations and the Crown Estate through the UK Marine Energy Programme to enhance the UK marine energy sector's ability to develop and deploy wave and tidal energy devices at a commercial scale.
	DECC welcomes the Welsh Assembly Government's initiative with the Crown Estate to work together to support the development of marine renewable energy manufacturing capacity in Wales.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many offshore wind turbines became operational in UK waters in each of the last five years.

Charles Hendry: 11 offshore wind farms have become fully operational in UK waters since January 2006. This has led to the installation of 344 turbines with a total installed capacity of 1127MW.
	By year, this equates to:
	
		
			  Turbines MW 
			 2006 30 90 
			 2007 27 100 
			 2008 54 194 
			 2009 103 353 
			 2010 130 390

HOME DEPARTMENT

Immigrants: Detainees

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2011, Official Report, column 1090W, on immigrants: detainees, what the UK Border Agency’s policy is concerning the retrieval of personal possessions by people who are not detained at home.

Damian Green: If individuals are not detained at home, for example, from their place of work following an illegal working visit, it is their responsibility to arrange the retrieval of their personal possessions via their family and friends. As stated in the previous answer, a limited number of possessions may be brought to the immigration removal centre and detainees are allowed to retain their mobile phones or use phone cards to facilitate this.

Assaults on Police

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were (a) shot at, (b) injured by shooting and (c) killed by shootings in each police force area in England and Wales in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Nick Herbert: Available information relates to offences recorded by the police in England and Wales between 2005-06 and 2009-10 where a firearm (excluding air weapons) was fired and the victim was an on-duty police officer and is detailed in the following tables.
	
		
			 Crimes recorded by the police in which a firearm (excluding air weapons) was fired and the victim was an on-duty police officer: England and Wales, 2005  -  06 to 2009  -  10 
			 Number of offences 
			  2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 
			 Police force area Total Resulted in injury  (1) Resulted in fatal injury Total Resulted in injury  (1) Resulted in fatal injury Total Resulted in injury  (1) Resulted in fatal injury 
			 Cleveland — — — — — — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 Durham — — — — — — — — — 
			 Northumbria 1 — — — — — — — — 
			 North East Region 1 — — — — — — — — 
			           
			 Cheshire 1 1 — 1 1 — — — — 
			 Cumbria — — — — — — — — — 
			 Greater Manchester 1 — — 3 1 — 2 1 — 
			 Lancashire 1 1 — — — — 7 7 — 
			 Merseyside 1 1 — 2 1 — 4 1 — 
			 North West Region 4 3 — 6 3 — 13 9 — 
			           
			 Humberside — — — 1 1 — — — — 
			 North Yorkshire — — — — — — — — — 
			 South Yorkshire — — — — — — — — — 
			 West Yorkshire 7 4 1 3 2 — 1 1 — 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber Region 7 4 1 4 3 — 1 1 — 
			           
			 Derbyshire — — — — — — — — — 
			 Leicestershire 2 — — 1 1 — — — — 
			 Lincolnshire — — — — — — — — — 
			 Northamptonshire 1 — — — — — — — — 
			 Nottinghamshire 1 1 — — — — 2 1 — 
			 East Midlands Region 4 1 — 1 1 — 2 1 — 
			           
			 Staffordshire — — — — — — — — — 
			 Warwickshire — — — — — — 1 1 — 
			 West Mercia — — — 1 — — 2 1 1 
			 West Midlands 7 4 — 5 5 — 4 3 — 
			 West Midlands Region 7 4 — 6 5 — 7 5 1 
			           
			 Bedfordshire — — — — — — — — — 
			 Cambridgeshire — — — — — — — — — 
			 Essex 1 1 — — — — — — — 
			 Hertfordshire 1 1 — — — — — — — 
			 Norfolk — — — — — — — — — 
			 Suffolk 1 — — — — — 1 — — 
			 East of England Region 3 2 — — — — 1 — — 
			           
			 City of London — — — — — — — — — 
			 Metropolitan 9 6 — 5 3 — 6 1 — 
			 London Region 9 6 — 5 3 — 6 1 — 
			           
			 Hampshire — — — — — — — — — 
			 Kent — — — — — — — — — 
			 Surrey — — — — — — — — — 
			 Sussex — — — — — — — — — 
			 Thames Valley — — — — — — 2 2 — 
			 South East Region — — — — — — 2 2 — 
			           
			 Avon and Somerset — — — — — — 1 — — 
			 Devon and Cornwall 2 2 — — — — — — — 
			 Dorset — — — — — — — — — 
			 Gloucestershire — — — 3 3 — 1 — — 
			 Wiltshire — — — 1 1 — — — — 
			 South West Region 2 2 — 4 4 — 2 — — 
			           
			 Dyfed-Powys — — — 1 1 — — — — 
			 Gwent — — — — — — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 North Wales — — — — — — — — — 
			 South Wales — — — — — — — — — 
			 Wales — — — 1 1 — — — — 
			           
			 England and Wales 37 22 1 27 20 — 34 19 1 
		
	
	
		
			 Number of offences 
			  2008-09 2009-10 
			  Total Resulted in injury  (1) Resulted in fatal injury Total Resulted in injury  (1) Resulted in fatal injury 
			 Cleveland — — — — — — 
			 Durham — — — — — — 
			 Northumbria — — — — — — 
			 North East Region — — — — — — 
			        
			 Cheshire — — — — — — 
			 Cumbria — — — — — — 
			 Greater Manchester 4 — — 2 2 — 
			 Lancashire 4 2 — — — — 
			 Merseyside — — — — — — 
			 North West Region 8 2 — 2 2 — 
			        
			 Humberside 1 — — — — — 
			 North Yorkshire — — — — — — 
			 South Yorkshire 1 — — — — — 
			 West Yorkshire — — — 2 1 — 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber Region 2 — — 2 1 — 
			        
			 Derbyshire — — — — — — 
			 Leicestershire — — — 1 1 — 
			 Lincolnshire — — — — — — 
			 Northamptonshire — — — 1 — — 
			 Nottinghamshire — — — — — — 
			 East Midlands Region — — — 2 1 — 
			        
			 Staffordshire — — — — — — 
			 Warwickshire — — — — — — 
			 West Mercia 1 1 — — — — 
			 West Midlands 1 — — — — — 
			 West Midlands Region 2 1 — — — — 
			        
			 Bedfordshire — — — — — — 
			 Cambridgeshire — — — — — — 
			 Essex 2 2 — 3 3 — 
			 Hertfordshire — — — — — — 
			 Norfolk — — — — — — 
			 Suffolk — — — — — — 
			 East of England Region 2 2 — 3 3 — 
			        
			 City of London — — — — — — 
			 Metropolitan 10 4 — 9 9 — 
			 London Region 10 4 — 9 9 — 
			        
			 Hampshire — — — — — — 
			 Kent — — — — — — 
			 Surrey — — — — — — 
			 Sussex — — — — — — 
			 Thames Valley 1 — — 3 — — 
			 South East Region 1 — — 3 — — 
		
	
	
		
			 Avon and Somerset — — — — — — 
			 Devon and Cornwall — — — 1 — — 
			 Dorset — — — — — — 
			 Gloucestershire — — — — — — 
			 Wiltshire — — — — — — 
			 South West Region — — — 1 — — 
			        
			 Dyfed-Powys — — — — — — 
			 Gwent — — — — — — 
			 North Wales — — — — — — 
			 South Wales 1 — — — — — 
			 Wales 1 — — — — — 
			        
			 England and Wales 26 9 — 22 16 — 
			 (1) Includes fatal, serious (which necessitated detention in hospital or involved fractures, concussion, severe general shock, penetration by a bullet or multiple shot wounds) and slight injuries.

Crime

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes there have been in the methods of calculating crime statistics for (a) the British Crime Survey and (b) police recorded crime in each of the last 30 years.

Nick Herbert: The questions in the British Crime Survey that are asked to obtain victimisation estimates have not changed since the survey began in 1982 but there have been other methodological changes. These include: a change from running the survey every two or four years; asking about crime experienced in the preceding calendar year; a change to rolling interviewing from 2001 in which respondents are asked about crimes experienced in the previous 12 months; increases over time in the numbers of people interviewed to give greater precision around survey estimates; and since January 2009 an extension of the survey to cover children aged 10 to 15.
	The coverage of the police recorded crime statistics have been affected both by the introduction of new legislation and changes in recording practices. In addition to the changes to the calculation of crime figures outlined below, there have been numerous other changes to both coverage and classification of recorded crime since their introduction in 1857.
	There have been three major changes to police recorded crime in recent years. In April 1998, the recorded crime coverage was extended to include additional offences including some summary offences closely related to the existing ones.
	At that time, the counting rules were also changed to place a greater emphasis on counting one crime per victim wherever possible.
	The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced nationally on 1 April 2002 with the aim of promoting greater consistency between police forces in the recording of crime and to take a more victim oriented approach to crime recording.
	The 2005-06 annual crime publication included figures from the British Transport Police within the England and Wales totals for the first time.
	The major changes are described in more detail in sections two and three of the User Guide to Home Office Crime Statistics. A copy of the publication can be accessed at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/crimestats-userguide.pdf
	and I will place a copy in the Library.

Crime Prevention: Vehicle Number Plates

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of cloned number plates were reported in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire: This information is not held by the Home Office.

Renewable Energy

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much energy in kilowatt hours her Department purchased from renewable sources in each year from 1997-98 to 2005-06.

Damian Green: The information requested is set out in the following table.
	The following recorded figures cover a different range of buildings over the requested time period, during which the scope of the estate changed. As the Home Office has transferred responsibility for the prisons estate to the Ministry of Justice their figures are excluded entirely.
	
		
			  Renewable energy purchased (kWh) 
			 1997-98 0 
			 1998-99 0 
			 1999-2000 0 
			 2000-01 4,628,468 
			 2001-02 24,962,370 
			 2002-03 36,144,725 
			 2003-04 39,772,601 
		
	
	
		
			 2004-05 42,265,022 
			 2005-06 49,018,619

Detention Centres: Families

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases families with children under immigration controls were (a) required to report daily, (b) given curfews, (c) tagged and (d) subject to additional enforcement visits to monitor compliance in the last 12 months.

Damian Green: While the UK Border Agency holds information on family cases requested to report daily, this is not centrally recorded and to provide this information would require a manual case by case search at disproportionate cost.
	When an applicant is tagged they are also subject to a monitoring period (a curfew) so essentially these are the same. In the last 12 months (April 2010-March 2011) eight family cases were identified as being electronically monitored.
	UKBA monitor compliance electronically using a tag and a monitoring unit.
	Enforcement visits are not conducted to monitor compliance in any circumstances. The only enforcement visits UKBA conduct would be with a view to arrest or remove.
	Figures provided are provisional, based on management information, not subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics and may be subject to change.

Detention Centres: Families

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what proportion of immigration cases family court proceedings or legal applications prevented removal for the majority of the parent's time in detention in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: The information requested is not held centrally by the UK Border Agency.

Detention Centres: Families

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria are used to determine the length of time afforded to a family to consider voluntary return.

Damian Green: The length of time afforded to families to return voluntarily is determined by the UK Border Agency on case by case basis. Families being taken through the new returns process introduced from March 2011 have at least two weeks between a Family Return Conference and a Family Departure Conference to make efforts to return voluntarily. However, families will have had opportunities to consider and take voluntary return prior to the Family Return Conference, and will continue to do so as the return process progresses toward ensured return.
	Guidance on this process is in chapter 45 of the Enforcement Instructions and guidance and can be found on the UK Border Agency website at:
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/enforcement

DNA: Databases

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of maintaining the DNA database was in each year since 2006-07.

James Brokenshire: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) on 4 April 2011, Official Report, column 589W.

DNA: Databases

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many DNA samples were taken from people (a) charged and (b) cautioned in each police force area in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: This information is not held centrally.

Driving Offences

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the five most common makes and models of vehicles stolen in each police authority area were in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: The information requested is not collected centrally. It is not possible to identify the makes or models of vehicles stolen from the police recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office.

Extradition

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many UK nationals have been extradited to foreign countries in each month since May 2010; and to which destination in each case.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 26 April 2011
	The information is as follows:
	Extradition to EU member states
	Since 1 January 2004, extradition between EU member states has been governed by the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and Crown Office (for Scotland) are the designated central authorities for the receipt and transmission of EAWs in the UK.
	SOCA's EAW figures for 2010-11 are currently being validated and will be ready in the near future.
	Extr adition to non-EU member states
	The following table shows the number of UK nationals surrendered from England, Wales and Northern Ireland to non-EU countries from 1 May 2010 to 31 March 2011.
	
		
			 UK nationals surrendered to Part Two countries 
			  Number of UK nationals Destinations 
			 2010   
			 May 2 Australia and USA 
			 June 0 — 
			 July 0 — 
			 August 0 — 
			 September 0 — 
			 October 0 — 
			 November 0 — 
			 December 0 — 
		
	
	
		
			 2011   
			 January 0 — 
			 February 2 Canada and USA 
			 March 0 —

Human Trafficking

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps she has taken to combat people trafficking.

Damian Green: The Government are committed to tackling human trafficking and we are determined to build on the UK’s track record in supporting victims and fighting traffickers.
	Despite the difficult financial climate we have set aside up to £2 million per annum for the next three years to fund support provision for adult victims of human trafficking. Furthermore, I recently wrote to the parliamentary scrutiny Committees announcing the Government’s intention to opt in to the EU directive on human trafficking. This remains subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
	We recognise the need to continually develop the Government’s anti-trafficking work. The human trafficking strategy, due to be published shortly, will set out our next steps to tackle human trafficking.

Independent Police Complaints Commission

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what her Department’s budget for the Independent Police Complaints Commission was in each financial year since 2005-06;
	(2)  how many staff the Independent Police Complaints Commission employed in each year since 2005-06.

Nick Herbert: Details of the grant in aid provided by the Home Office to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in each financial year since 2005 are provided in the following table. In addition, the IPCC receives funding from the UK Border Agency and HM Revenue and Customs to fund its complaints investigation work in respect of those organisations, and the Security Industry Authority (SIA) for office space. The IPCC is operationally independent of the Home Office and staffing issues are a matter for it. However, the number of staff employed in each year since 2005 (as provided by the IPCC) is also shown.
	
		
			 Staffing of, and funding for, the IPCC from 1 April 2005 to 1 April 2011 
			 Financial year Staff in post  (number) Resource (£) Capital (£) Total (£) 
			 2005-06 244 28,157,000 1,525,000 29,682,000 
			 2006-07 340 31,273,000 2,100,000 33,373,000 
			 2007-08 392 32,273,000 2,100,000 34,373,000 
			 2008-09 378 33,273,000 1,500,000 34,773,000 
			 2009-10 411 35,406,000 900,000 36,306,000 
			 2010-11 463 35,365,000 1,000,000 36,365,000 
			 2011-12 438 32,890,000 400,000 33,290,000

Offences Against Children

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children in contravention of a curfew notice were removed to their place of residence by (a) community support officers and (b) police officers in each police authority area under paragraph 4B of Schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act 2002.

James Brokenshire: Paragraph 4B of schedule four to the Police Reform Act 2002 relates to the enforcement of local child curfew schemes which were introduced by sections 14 and 15 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
	Information on the number of local child curfew schemes and their enforcement was not collected centrally. However the Home Office is not aware that the power was ever used and the relevant provisions were repealed by the Police and Crime Act 2009.

Police Custody

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences were recorded of absconding from lawful custody in each year since 2007-08; and what proportion of these offences (a) resulted in court proceedings against suspected perpetrators, (b) led to a conviction and (c) resulted in a sanction detection.

James Brokenshire: The information is not available in the form requested.
	Figures for the number of offences of absconding from lawful custody recorded by the police and the number detected by means of a sanction detection are given in the table. Statistics on court proceedings, including convictions, are a matter for the Ministry of Justice.
	Recorded crime and court proceedings statistics are recorded in quite different ways. Recorded crime data is provided on a financial year basis and counts offences, whereas court proceedings data are on a calendar year basis and count offenders. Therefore, these two separate data-sets are not directly comparable.
	
		
			 Table 1: Offences of absconding from lawful custody recorded by the police and detected by means of a sanction detection  (1)  —2007-08 to 2009-10 
			  Number of offences Number of sanction detections Percentage detected by means of a sanction detection 
			 2007-08 830 687 83 
			 2008-09 648 574 89 
			 2009-10 558 449 80 
			 (1) Detection rates are a ratio of crimes detected in a period to crimes recorded in a period. They are not based on tracking whether individual crimes recorded in a period have eventually been detected.

Police: Complaints

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints in each category of complaint (a) in total and (b) against police community support officers were received by the police complaints and discipline department of each police authority in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office does not collect the information requested. The Independent Police Complaints Commission has oversight of the system for complaints about the conduct of police officers and staff and is responsible for collecting and publishing relevant statistics.

Police: Fees and Charges

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy not to charge victims of crime for the recovery of their property from (a) the police and (b) those holding the property on behalf of the police.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 26 April 2011
	The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) gives the police powers to seize property as part of an investigation into a criminal offence. PACE does not give the police any statutory powers to charge an individual for the return of any property seized under the act.
	However, the police also have powers under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to remove or arrange the removal of any vehicle that is dangerously, illegally or obstructively parked or broken down or abandoned. This includes vehicles abandoned after being stolen. In these circumstances, the police are legally entitled to levy statutorily prescribed charges before releasing the vehicle to meet the costs they have necessarily incurred.

Police: Manpower

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers of each rank were in post in England and Wales on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many of each such rank were identified as (a) black and (b) Asian.

Nick Herbert: The requested information is given in the table.
	
		
			 Asian and black police officer strength  (1)   by rank as at 31 March 2010 
			 Police ranks Asian or Asian British Black or Black British 
			 ACPO rank 5 1 
			 Chief Superintendent 8 2 
			 Superintendent 10 9 
			 Chief Inspector 24 16 
			 Inspector 95 46 
			 Sergeant 281 206 
			 Constable 2,185 1,166 
			 (1) This table contains full time equivalent figures which have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Police: Pensions

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  whether her Department has carried out an impact assessment of the proposed changes to the Police Forces Pension Scheme; and what estimate she has made of the change in the opt-out rate resulting from implementation of those changes;
	(2)  what arrangements are in place to ensure that the proposed changes to the Police Forces Pension Scheme are sustainable and progressive;
	(3)  what assessment she has made of the effects of the proposed changes to the Police Forces Pension Scheme on part-time members of staff who are members of the scheme.

Nick Herbert: The Government have accepted Lord Hutton’s recommendations as a basis for consultation, recognising that the position of the uniformed services will require particularly careful consideration. The Government have committed to ensuring that any proposed changes to public service pension schemes, including the police schemes, as a result of Lord Hutton’s recommendations are affordable, sustainable, and fair to both the public sector workforce and the taxpayer.
	Any proposed changes to the police pension schemes would be subject to the normal consultation process with the Police Negotiating Board in line with statutory obligations. Where appropriate, an equality impact assessment would be conducted to accompany proposed changes.

Police: Polling Stations

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers are available to police attending polling stations on election days.

Mark Harper: I have been asked to respond as the Minister with responsibility for electoral policy.
	The law places limits on attendance at polling stations. Rule 32 of the Parliamentary Elections Rules at Schedule 1 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 sets out a list of people who are allowed to attend a polling station, which includes police constables on duty. Police officers at polling stations have their normal policing powers. Within polling stations, it is the Presiding Officer's duty to maintain order. Rule 33 of Schedule 1 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 provides that the Presiding Officer may direct police constables to remove persons who have either misconducted themselves in a polling station or have failed to obey a lawful order of the Presiding Officer.

Police: Recruitment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance she has issued to police forces on the treatment of candidates who have passed a final panel interview assessment for appointment as a constable but have not yet been accepted into service.

Nick Herbert: This is a matter for individual police forces.

Police: Training

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers (a) are trained to handle digital evidence, (b) are serving with computer crime units and (c) have higher level forensic skills.

Nick Herbert: This information is not collected centrally.

Racially Aggravated Offences

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many racially-motivated crimes were recorded in each police force area in each of the last five years.

Nick Herbert: The available statistics relate to racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police for some specific crime categories and are given in the table.
	It is not possible to separately identify those of a racial nature from those of a religious nature.
	
		
			 Numbers of racially or religiously aggravated offences  (1)   recorded by the police in England and Wales, 2005-06 to 2009-10 
			 Police force area 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 
			 Avon and Somerset 1,326 1,337 1,027 1,148 1,162 
			 Bedfordshire 339 308 292 230 286 
			 British Transport Police 1,088 1,188 1,316 1,287 1,218 
			 Cambridgeshire 322 351 365 402 426 
			 Cheshire 569 557 536 424 376 
			 Cleveland 528 464 390 288 272 
			 Cumbria 232 219 187 188 188 
			 Derbyshire 494 492 554 469 548 
			 Devon and Cornwall 818 809 696 588 731 
			 Dorset 214 291 294 302 256 
			 Durham 258 304 245 220 224 
			 Dyfed-Powys 118 167 125 113 99 
			 Essex 796 922 913 871 866 
			 Gloucestershire 283 326 264 277 246 
			 Greater Manchester 3,398 3,677 3,637 3,587 3,250 
			 Gwent 289 269 234 205 268 
			 Hampshire 1,120 1,326 1,320 1,089 1,002 
			 Hertfordshire 985 954 846 709 697 
			 Humberside 417 655 407 374 365 
			 Kent 798 935 858 755 596 
			 Lancashire 1,363 1,238 1,042 846 845 
			 Leicestershire 1,007 1,055 941 953 903 
			 Lincolnshire 200 143 101 155 101 
			 London, City of 75 83 73 57 45 
			 Merseyside 1,420 1,423 1,100 1,059 1,050 
			 Metropolitan police 8,769 8,226 7,357 7,947 8,010 
			 Norfolk 343 340 265 254 261 
			 Northamptonshire 455 422 455 359 401 
			 Northumbria 834 924 729 808 658 
			 North Wales 396 356 316 300 292 
			 North Yorkshire 205 234 172 191 203 
			 Nottinghamshire 566 715 793 840 820 
			 South Wales 713 555 611 610 629 
			 South Yorkshire 1,032 1,037 927 774 668 
			 Staffordshire 805 889 760 760 776 
			 Suffolk 240 329 328 316 361 
			 Surrey 845 588 305 328 348 
			 Sussex 710 991 776 586 667 
			 Thames Valley 1,128 1,483 1,233 1,350 1,238 
			 Warwickshire 293 379 416 357 269 
			 West Mercia 527 499 503 481 453 
			 West Midlands 3,071 3,338 3,249 2,859 2,728 
			 West Yorkshire 2,898 2,691 2,493 2,122 1,920 
			 Wiltshire 260 253 196 207 206 
			 England and Wales total 42,547 43,742 39,647 38,045 36,928 
			 (1) Includes the following racially or religiously aggravated offences: GBH without intent, ABH or other injury, harassment, public fear, alarm or distress, assault without injury and criminal damage.

Sexual Offences

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many registered (a) sex offenders and (b) sex offenders convicted of offences involving minors were resident in each police authority area in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: The total number of registered sex offenders residing within each of the 42 police authority areas in England and Wales is detailed within the published annual MAPPA (Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements) Reports. The report for 2009-10 is available online via the following link:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.justice.gov.uk/publications/mappa.htm
	The remaining data required to answer this question is not collected in the format requested and could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

Smuggling: Tobacco

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have had tobacco seized from them at UK ports of entry in the last 12 months.

Damian Green: The following tables show the number and quantity of cigarette and hand rolling tobacco (HRT) seizures for the 2010-11 financial year.
	
		
			 Number and quantity of cigarette seizures: 2010-11 
			 UKBA  Number of seizures Quantity seized Average per seizure 
			 Air Air courier 109 1,133,100 10,395 
			  Freight 829 24,415,180 29,451 
			  Other 942 7,329,967 7,781 
			  Passenger 23,840 80,670,773 3,384 
			  Total 25,720 113,549,020 4,415 
			      
			 Maritime Accompanied RORO 388 166,304,975 428,621 
			  Container 1,278 238,529,151 186,643 
			  Freight-Other 16 7,991,640 499,478 
			  Other 141 14,100,115 100,001 
			  Tourist 1,167 9,695,093 8,308 
			  Unaccompanied RORO 58 15,453,817 266,445 
			  Total 3,048 452,074,791 148,319 
			      
			 Other UKBA(1)  13 4,417,740 339,826 
			      
			 Post(2)  — 80,019,119 — 
			      
			  UKBA total 28.781 650,060,670 22,586 
		
	
	
		
			 Number and quantity of hand rolling tobacco (HRT) seizures: 2010-11 
			 UKBA  Number of seizures Quantity seized Average per seizure 
			 Air Air courier 100 3.654 37 
			  Freight 678 19,515 29 
			  Other 305 9,429 31 
			  Passenger 6,449 27,908 4 
			  Total 7,532 60,505 8 
			      
			 Maritime Accompanied RORO 380 40,479 107 
			  Container 507 25,544 50 
			  Freight-Other 6 12,047 2,008 
			  Other 37 2,775 75 
			  Tourist 2,312 22,532 10 
			  Unaccompanied RORO 26 2,651 102 
			  Total 3,268 106,028 32 
			      
			 Other UKBA(1)  7 2,967 424 
			      
			 Post(2)  — 145,274 — 
			      
		
	
	
		
			  UKBA total 10,807 314,775 29 
			 (1) The ‘Other UKBA’ seizures are mostly seizures at Inland Fast Parcel clearing locations and should be included within the Border total. (2 )Due to the practice of bulk recording, i.e. recording multiple packages as a single seizure, the number of postal seizures is not reported. Note: The data provided in the tables relate to all seizures made by UKBA at British ports of entry. Our records do not link the number of seizures directly to individuals as some seizures are not accompanied by a person, e.g. unaccompanied freight and in the postal environments, and also some seizures are made from repeat offenders.

Terrorism: Olympic Games 2012

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to protect the 2012 London Olympics from terrorist threat.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office’s Olympic and Paralympic safety and security strategy, run by the police, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, the Olympic Delivery Authority and other partners, provides a framework for projects to safeguard and secure London 2012.
	The police and security services already invest significant resource into planning for terrorist and other major risks to the UK, and have considerable expertise in dealing with both threats and incidents. Our approach to the games is intelligence-led and risk-based, giving us the flexibility to respond to any changes between now and 2012. Regular threat assessments inform our risk management process. Threat levels may change rapidly, and by basing the plans against a SEVERE threat level we maximise our flexibility.
	Last year the Minister for Security and Counter-Terrorism conducted an audit and review of Olympic security planning, and that concluded that that work is well placed. There is of course more work to be done, but an effective foundation has already been established. We have protected the Olympic security budget, which is in addition to core funding for the police and counter-terrorism.

UK Border Agency: Firearms

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many UK Border Agency enforcement team staff held a valid firearms licence in the latest period for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  how many firearms were purchased by the UK Border Agency and its predecessor bodies in each of the last 10 years; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: There are no UKBA staff licensed to carry firearms on duty and no firearms have been purchased in the previous 10 years.

Vetting

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of staff recruited to (a) her Department and (b) its agencies were required to have a Criminal Records Bureau check before an offer of employment was made in each year since 2008-09.

Damian Green: Home Office HQ, UK Border Agency (UKBA), Identity and Passport Service (IPS) and the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) do not currently require staff to undertake CRB checks prior to being offered employment and have not undertaken any such checks on new recruits prior to an offer of employment in any year since 2008-09.
	UKBA only carry out checks after an offer of employment has been made when a role consists of dealing with children or vulnerable adults.

Work Permits

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the evidential basis was for the removal of the senior care worker category from the tier 2 shortage occupation list.

Damian Green: Senior care workers were removed from the Government’s shortage occupation list following advice and analysis conducted by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). The MAC found that the occupation is not skilled to NVQ4 level, a key requirement in tier 2 of the Points Based System. The MAC report can be found on their website at:
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/workingwithus/indbodies/mac/

HEALTH

Alcoholic Drinks: Rehabilitation

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people being treated for alcohol addiction in each primary care trust are being prescribed (a) acamprosate and (b) disulfiram.

Simon Burns: Information on the number of patients prescribed a medicine and the condition for which that medicine is prescribed is not collected centrally. However, a table has been placed in the Library containing information on the number of dispensed prescription items that were prescribed within each primary care trust for acamprosate calcium and disulfiram, for the latest available 12 month period, October 2009 to September 2010.

Autism: Health Services

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of provision of health care services for people with autism.

Paul Burstow: It is the responsibility of national health service organisations to ensure they commission appropriate health care services for people with autism.
	Statutory guidance for health and social care bodies to support delivery of the Government’s autism strategy for England—“Implementing Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives”—was published on 17 December 2010. This sets out in particular that NHS bodies should develop (with local authorities) local commissioning plans for services for adults with autism, basing these in good information and effective needs analysis with the aim of improving the health outcomes of people with autism.

Blood: Contamination

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Colne Valley of 30 March 2011, Official Report, columns 399-400W, on blood: contamination, what criteria he used to determine the 31 March 2011 deadline; and for what reasons no consultation was held before the deadline was determined;
	(2)  if he will review the need for any deadline date to be set for surviving spouses to register an interest in compensation schemes for those infected with hepatitis C as a result of NHS treatment.

Anne Milton: The deadline was set at 31 March 2011 because we considered that the 12-week window of opportunity this offered to register an intention to make a claim was reasonable. Consultation on the deadline was not considered necessary.
	As I stated in my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney) on 30 March 2011, Official Report, columns 399-400W, the Skipton Fund will consider registrations that are made after 31 March 2011, on a case by case basis, where there is a valid reason for the applicant to have missed the registration deadline.

Blood: Donors

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the exclusion from blood donations of men who have sex with men, if he will make it his policy only to exclude blood donors (a) who have engaged in risky sexual behaviour and (b) whose HIV status cannot be accurately determined because of the delay between the date of infection and the date when the HIV virus and HIV antibodies manifest and become detectable in an infected person’s blood; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) is currently reviewing the evidence base for donor exclusion and deferral in the United Kingdom, including criteria which relate to sexual behaviour.
	Once the review is complete, SaBTO will make recommendations to UK Health Departments as to whether any changes to the current policy are warranted.

Brighton and Hove: Funding

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many ring-fenced grants provided by his Department were available for Brighton and Hove city council to claim in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10 and (d) 2010-11; how much was available in such grants; how many such grants were made; and how much was awarded in such grants;
	(2)  how many ring-fenced grants provided by his Department were available for Brighton and Hove city council to claim in 2011-12; how much is available in such grants; how many such grants have been made; and how much is to be awarded in such grants in the next 12 months.

Paul Burstow: The following tables show the ring-fenced grants provided by the Department that were available to Brighton and Hove city council from 2007-08 to 2010-11. Table 1 shows the total funding that was available at national level for each grant, and Table 2 sets out the amount that was allocated to Brighton and Hove city council.
	
		
			 Table 1: Grant totals (national level) 
			    £000 
			 Grant Revenue/  Capital Bid-Based? 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Mental Capacity Act and Independent Mental Capacity Advocate Service R N 14,625 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Individual Budget Pilots R Y 6,000 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Partnerships for Older People Pilots (POPPS) R Y 40,000 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Learning Disability Campus Closure Programme R N n/a 14,000 31,000 (1)— 
			 Supported Capital Expenditure (R) Mental Health C N 22,593 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services R N 88,214 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Mental Health R N 132,900 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Improving Information Management C N 25,000 n/a n/a n/a 
			 AIDS Support Grant R N 16,500 19,800 21,800 (1)— 
			 Social Care Reform Grant R N n/a 85,000 195,000 240,000 
			 Stroke Strategy R N n/a 15,000 15,000 (1)— 
			 HIV Capital C Y 3,100 3,100 3,100 (1)— 
			 Common Assessment framework C Y n/a n/a 11,000 (1)— 
			 Social Care IT Infrastructure C N n/a 15,000 16,000 (1)— 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Grant allocated to Brighton and Hove city council 
			    £000 
			 Grant Revenue/  Capital Bid-Based? 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Mental Capacity Act and Independent Mental Capacity Advocate Service R N 75 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Individual Budget Pilots R Y 0 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Partnerships for Older People Pilots (POPPS) R Y 0 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Learning Disability Campus Closure Programme R N n/a 0 0 (1)— 
			 Supported Capital Expenditure (R) Mental Health C N 133 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services R N 461 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Mental Health R N 804 (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Improving Information Management C N 134 n/a n/a n/a 
			 AIDS Support Grant R N 292 357 429 (1)— 
			 Social Care Reform R N n/a 414 956 1,167 
			 Stroke Strategy R N n/a 94 94 (1)— 
			 HIV Capital C Y 0 0 0 (1)— 
			 Common Assessment framework C Y n/a n/a 0 (1)— 
			 Social Care IT Infrastructure C N n/a 76 80 (1)— 
			 n/a means that the grant was not allocated that year (1) Un-ringfenced. This means that the grant was still being allocated, but was issued without conditions on expenditure and could be used to fund any local authority activity. Note: No ring-fenced grants were allocated by the Department for 2011-12. At the time of the spending review, the Department announced that revenue grant funding had been maintained in real terms for 2011-12. We have also allocated an additional £1 billion by 2014-15, through local government, to support social care. In order to support local flexibility and to reduce administrative burdens, these funding streams will go to authorities through the general local government formula grant.

Bristol Homeopathic Hospital

David Tredinnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will meet the representatives of United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust to discuss the future of the Bristol Homeopathic hospital; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: Responsibility for decisions on what types of treatments are most suitable for patients and where they should be provided lies with treating clinicians and commissioners within the national health service. University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust is a foundation trust, and so is regulated by Monitor. My hon. Friend may wish to contact Monitor or University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust about this issue.

CJD

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died as a result of infection with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the last 20 years.

Anne Milton: The National Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Surveillance Unit publishes figures each month for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease on their website at:
	www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/figures.htm
	These record that between 1995 and 4 April 2011, 171 people died of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Continuing Care

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 14 March 2011, Official Report, column 76W, on epilepsy: Brighton, for what reasons (a) he has made no assessment of the progress being made towards implementation of the National Service Framework for long-term conditions (NSF) and (b) no mid-term review of the NSF has been undertaken; what responsibility his Department has to ensure effective implementation of the NSF for long-term conditions; by what mechanism the progress made by local health bodies within the 10- year timescale from publication will be assessed; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: The White Paper “Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS” places outcomes at the heart of health policy and this fits well with the aspirations of the National Service Framework for Long Term Conditions (the ‘NSF’). The NSF focused on achieving a better experience and better outcomes for those with a long term condition but did not prescribe the processes by which this should be achieved. Delivery was left by the last Government to the national health service to resolve.
	Subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill through Parliament, general practitioner (GP) led commissioning consortia will be responsible for commissioning the great majority of NHS services. GPs, in partnership with other local healthcare professionals such as therapists and community nurses, are best placed to understand the health needs of local populations and how to work with their local populations—including patient-led organisations such as the Neurological Alliance, and other service users—to design services that meet those needs.
	The NHS Commissioning Board will be responsible for assessment of the performance of GP consortia. The board will draw on the national outcome goals in the NHS Outcomes Framework to develop a new Commissioning Outcomes Framework. Measures from the Commissioning Outcomes Framework will be used by the Board to hold GP consortia to account for the quality of services they commission and the health outcomes they achieve for patients.

Fluoride

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is his policy that future decisions about the fluoridation of water supplies shall be taken by elected local authorities following the abolition of strategic health authorities.

Anne Milton: Yes. We propose that local authorities should conduct consultations and ascertain public opinion on proposals for new fluoridation schemes, while contracts for existing (and any new) schemes will become the responsibility of the Secretary of State.

Fluoride

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the outcome of fluoridation exercises in countries where health authorities (i) continue to and (ii) have ceased administration of fluoride to water supplies; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: A Systematic Review of Water Fluoridation, which was commissioned by the Department from the university of York in 1999 and published in 2000, showed that, on the best available evidence, fluoridation increased the proportion of children without tooth decay by 15% and that children in fluoridated areas had, on average, 2.25 fewer teeth affected by decay than children in non-fluoridated areas.
	Evidence from epidemiological surveys of child dental health, which are carried out at regular intervals, confirms that these benefits continue. An example of the effects of cessation is provided by a study of Anglesey(1) where fluoridation commenced in 1955, became intermittent from 1987 and ceased in 1991. In 1987-88, the last year of optimal fluoridation, the mean number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft) of five-year-old children was 0.80. By 1993 average dmft had increased to 2.01 with a dmft of 1.81 among those who had experienced fluoridation during approximately 35 % of their lives and one of 2.28 for those who had experienced fluoridation for less than 10% of their lives.
	(1) Fluoridation in Anglesey 1993: a clinical study of dental caries in five-year-old children who had experienced sub-optimal fluoridation F. D. Thomas/J. Y. Kassab and B. M. Jones British Dental Journal 178, 55-59 (1995)

Fluoride: Southampton

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the proceedings of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Hampshire county council of 14 March 2011, what reports he has received on the plans of South Central Strategic Health Authority to proceed with fluoridation of drinking water supplies in and near Southampton; and if he will call in these plans for review.

Anne Milton: We understand that on 31 March, South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA) asked Southern Water to proceed with the fluoridation of drinking water in Southampton and part of South West Hampshire following the outcome of the judicial review, which upheld the SHA’s decision. The relevant legislation provides for these decisions to be taken locally.

Health Services

Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanism has been put in place to ensure that local capacity to deliver (a) weight management services and (b) other public health services is maintained during the transfer of responsibility for public health from primary care trusts to local authorities.

Anne Milton: The detailed arrangements for public health staff are for local determination between primary care trusts (PCTs) and local authorities.
	The NHS Operating Framework states that during the transition year (2011-12) the national health service must continue to lead on improvements to public health, ensuring that public health services are in the strongest possible position when responsibilities are devolved to local authorities. As PCTs and local authorities begin to deliver significant cost savings, it is important to recognise the need to retain specialist public health skills. Sir David Nicholson reaffirmed this in his most recent transition letter to the NHS of 17 February 2011.

Influenza: Vaccination

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will reconsider his policy on offering H1N1 vaccines to children between the age of six months and five years.

Anne Milton: The Government's policy on influenza vaccination is informed by the expert advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Current vaccination policy is to offer seasonal influenza vaccine to all people aged 65 years and over, and to individuals from six months of age who have a clinical condition which puts them more at risk of the effects of influenza. JCVI does not recommend that healthy children outside the risk groups should be vaccinated.
	At its meeting on 2 February 2011, JCVI reviewed the available evidence, and advised that the groups of patients recommended for influenza vaccination in the 2011-12 influenza season remain unchanged. The Health Protection Agency is currently undertaking a study on the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of seasonal flu vaccines. This paper will be peer-reviewed and will be considered at the October 2011 JCVI meeting. It will inform the Committee’s advice about the groups that should be offered seasonal influenza vaccine in the future.

Liver Diseases: Screening

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of a fibroscan in determining the level of liver damage in each case of hepatitis C caused by infection as a result of NHS treatment;
	(2)  what arrangement he has made to ensure that those infected with hepatitis C as a result of their NHS treatment are able to undergo a fibroscan.

Anne Milton: The Department received expert advice, during the review of the support available to individuals infected with hepatitis C and/or HIV by national health service supplied blood transfusions or blood products and their dependants, that measurement of liver elastography, such as by fibroscan, could provide additional but non-obligatory information to support a diagnosis of cirrhosis in those infected with hepatitis C, alongside other relevant clinical information. It is for clinicians to decide what tests to offer their patients.

Medical Records: British Nationals Abroad

Steve Brine: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements there are to enable British citizens resident overseas to gain access to their NHS medical records.

Simon Burns: Under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), all patients have the right to apply for access to copies of their national health service health records. Requests are made in writing to the record holder, and a fee is payable, set at a maximum of £50.
	Former patients living outside of the United Kingdom who have received treatment in the UK have the same rights under the DPA to apply for access to their NHS health records as someone making an access request from within the UK, and NHS organisations will treat these requests the same.

Myasthenia Gravis: Drugs

Steve Brine: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the effect of EU orphan drugs legislation on the cost of provision of medical treatments for rare forms of myasthenia gravis.

Gemma Doyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will consider the merits of establishing a review of drugs legislation to ensure that patients with rare neuromuscular conditions such as myasthenia gravis have adequate access to treatments and that the treatments provide best value for money.

Simon Burns: A range of treatments is available to national health service patients for myasthenia gravis. It is for the local NHS to decide what treatment is clinically appropriate for patients.
	We are working to introduce a new system of pricing for medicines, where the price of a drug will be linked to its assessed value. We have consulted on our proposals to ensure that clinicians and patients will have better access to licensed and effective drugs when the current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme expires at the end of 2013 and we are now considering the responses received.
	Rewards to companies under the European Union orphan medicines scheme should be proportionate to the effort and cost incurred. If there is evidence of systematic use of the orphan drug legislation in circumstances where companies are not incurring substantial research and development costs, then we would consider pressing for a change in the European legislation.

National Institute of Health Research: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has set benchmarks for the performance of the National Institute of Health Research as conditions for securing public funding.

Simon Burns: From autumn 2011, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funding will become conditional on organisations playing their part in the national research governance system. The Government will launch a framework of standard procedures and good practice for local health research management—the NIHR Research Support Services framework—by May 2011. Recipients of NIHR funding will regularly publish metrics on their performance in initiating and delivering health research. When deciding on funding, the NIHR will take account of performance against public NIHR benchmarks, including an initial benchmark of 70 days from receipt of a valid research protocol to recruitment of the first participant in a study.

NHS

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will reverse his decision not to publish the legal advice he has received relating to EU competition law as it will affect the NHS under the provisions of the Health and Social Care Bill; and for what reason he reached this decision.

Simon Burns: Legal advice was integral to the Department's advice to Ministers on the introduction of the Health and Social Care Bill. However, no separate legal advice was commissioned by officials on the impact of the Bill on the application of European Union competition law to the national health service; this is because the Health and Social Care Bill does not change current United Kingdom or EU competition legislation.
	The Government do not routinely publish official advice from Departments to Ministers.

NHS: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to page 98 of The Plan for Growth, what proportion of the actions on health care and life sciences are to be funded by his Department.

Simon Burns: The Department has lead responsibility for 12 of the 16 actions listed on page 98 of the Plan for Growth document (actions numbered one to seven and 12 to 16). Provision has been made in the Department's spending review settlement to take forward these actions. Action 14 is jointly being taken forward with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Technology Strategy Board is providing £18 million for an assisted living technology investment programme.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has lead responsibility for the remaining four actions (actions numbered eight to 11). Provision will be made, where appropriate, within BIS's existing budget to take forward these actions.

NHS: Private Finance Initiative

Ian Swales: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much debt each NHS trust has accrued directly as a result of private finance initiative contracts;
	(2)  what each NHS trust's annual repayment figure is for private finance initiative contracts;
	(3)  what the annual interest for repayment of private finance initiative contracts is for each NHS trust.

Simon Burns: Information on the estimated revenue payments for the lifetime of each health sector private finance initiative contract can be found on the Treasury’s website at:
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pfi_signed_projects_list_march2011.xls
	These are the latest estimates collected from each Department for the March 2011 Budget Report; the health sector schemes are clearly marked “DH-Acute (i.e. Hospitals)”. The table includes information on payments already made (i.e. for financial years preceding 2011-12) and estimated for the remaining contract period. The payment figures include not just the financing costs for initial construction but also all the other services such as building maintenance and support services (cleaning, catering, portering etc.) provided over the lifetime of the contract. The figures also include an annual uprate assumption for inflation of 2.5%.
	Information on the interest rates incurred on the principal debt finance and any equity finance (i.e. the financing costs referred to above) can be found in the Business Cases for each scheme, which NHS trusts are required to make publicly available. The information is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

NHS: Reorganisation

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of implementing his proposed NHS reforms (a) nationally and (b) in the Bassetlaw Primary Care Trust area.

Simon Burns: The costs were published in the impact assessment for the Health and Social Care Bill. The estimated national cost is £1.4 billion.
	The Department has not estimated a regional breakdown of this figure, as this will depend on local decisions.
	The impact assessment is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsLegislation/DH_123583
	A copy has already been placed in the Library.

NHS: Reorganisation

Penny Mordaunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a representative of public health will be included on the NHS Future Forum; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: Dr Frank Atherton, President of the Association of Directors of Public Health, is a member of the NHS Future Forum, and has been included to represent public health.

Obesity

Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many primary care trusts do not have an obesity lead staff member in post owing to a staff member leaving or having been made redundant in the last six months;
	(2)  how many strategic health authorities do not have an obesity lead staff member in post owing to a staff member leaving or having been made redundant in the last six months.

Anne Milton: This information is not collected by the Department.
	Staffing arrangements are a matter for primary care trusts and strategic health authorities. The NHS Operating Framework states that during the transition year (2011-12) the national health service must continue to lead on improvements to public health ensuring that public health services are in the strongest possible position when responsibilities are devolved to local authorities.

Skin Piercing: Children

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to issue new guidance to local authorities on the regulation of ear and body piercing of minors.

Anne Milton: We have no current plans to issue new guidance to local authorities on the regulation of cosmetic ear or body piercing of minors.

Skin Piercing: Children

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the number of minors affected by medical complications associated with ear and body piercing.

Anne Milton: The Department does not hold information on the number of minors affected by medical complications associated with ear and body piercing.

Skipton Fund

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he took to ensure that widows and trustees of those who were infected with hepatitis C as a result of NHS treatment and subsequently died were aware of the 31 March deadline for registering their interest in making a posthumous claim to the Skipton Fund.

Anne Milton: Since the announcement on 10 January 2011, these new payments have been publicised in a variety of ways such as by a press release, by relevant internet sites, by campaign groups such as the Hepatitis C Trust, and by Twitter. A full list of the electronic communications that have been utilised has been placed in the Library.

Skipton Fund

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health following an award of Stage 2 payment from the Skipton Fund to an individual, what additional payment is to be made to the (a) surviving spouse and (b) dependants of the individual following his or her death; and for what period surviving spouses and dependants will continue to receive the annual payment of £12,800.

Anne Milton: The annual payments of £12,800 are made to infected individuals only, so will cease on their death. Widows and dependants of infected individuals will be eligible to apply for discretionary payments from the Caxton Foundation on the basis of need. It will be for the trustees of the charity to determine to whom the beneficiaries payment is made, and how much.

Skipton Fund

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what organisations hold the records of the surviving spouses and trustees of those who were infected with hepatitis C as a result of NHS treatment and subsequently died.

Anne Milton: No organisation holds all the records of the widows, trustees or other representatives of patients who were infected with hepatitis C as a result of treatment with national health service blood and blood products and subsequently died.
	The Skipton Fund deals only with infected individuals or their trustees, although it has previously dealt with a very small number of estates of individuals who died in the period between the announcement of the scheme on 29 August 2003, and 5 July 2004, when it was launched and began processing applications. It has never held any records of individuals who died prior to 29 August 2003.
	Haemophilia centres are also checking their records, as far as it is possible to do so, to identify any families of infected patients who may have recently died. However, many records will have been destroyed if the individual died some time ago. There is also no guarantee that widows or former dependants would still be at the address shown in the records, or that they will necessarily be the beneficiaries of the estate.

Skipton Fund

Paul Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many surviving spouses of those infected with hepatitis C as a result of NHS treatment, who have subsequently died, (a) were contacted before the 31 March deadline for applications to the Skipton Fund and (b) registered their interest in making a posthumous claim with the Skipton Fund by the deadline.

Anne Milton: There are two potential claims that can be made to the Skipton Fund by the estate of an individual infected with hepatitis C as a result of national health service treatment who has subsequently died. The first is the additional £25,000 for those who had already received a Stage 2 payment, some of whom will have died since receiving their initial payment, but before the 10 January 2011 announcement. The second is posthumous claims in respect of those who died before the Skipton Fund was announced on 29 August 2003, and who were previously ineligible to apply.
	As at 31 March 2011, 140 estates in England had applied to the Skipton Fund for the additional Stage 2 payment of £25,000, and 472 estates in England had registered an intention to claim in respect of the pre-2003 deceased. Prior to 31 March 2011, the Skipton Fund pro-actively contacted all existing Stage 2 recipients in England on their database who had not otherwise come forward, at their last known telephone number. Of the 140 eligible claims, 34 were identified by the ring-round. It is not known who the estates are in respect of the pre-2003 deceased, so it was not possible to make pro-active contact.
	For both types of claim, we do not know how many of those making the application are widows of the deceased as opposed to other representatives of the individual's estate such as widowers, children, or other beneficiaries.

South Central Strategic Health Authority

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date he expects (a) the South Central Strategic Health Authority to be abolished and (b) its functions to be assumed by local authorities in Hampshire.

Simon Burns: The Government announced on 4 April that they would take advantage of a natural break in the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill to pause, listen, reflect and improve the plans for modernising the national health service. As a result, subject to the listening exercise and the passage of the Bill, all of the statutory changes which were due to take place in April 2012 will now take place no earlier than July 2012. This revised time scale applies to the abolition of strategic health authorities such as South Central Strategic Health Authority.
	Strategic health authorities’ functions will transfer to a range of organisations, including the NHS Commissioning Board, Health Education England and local authorities. We intend that functions will be transferred at the point that strategic health authorities are abolished.